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 Ellington finished with 24 points while Tyler Hansbrough had 18 Sunday to help the top-ranked Tar Heels beat the Tigers 86-81 in the tournament championship game, a victory that almost certainly locks up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament while giving North Carolina a record 17th ACC title.
Ty Lawson had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists for the Tar Heels (32-2), who managed a tough three-game sweep of the Tigers to earn their 11th straight win.
Hansbrough was named the tournament's most valuable player, finishing with 11 rebounds one day after hitting the last-second shot to beat Virginia Tech in the semifinals.
Ellington, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, continued his season-long torture of the third-seeded Tigers (24-9), finishing 10-for-13 from the field to go with four rebounds and four assists. In January, he had a career-high 36 points and hit a last-second 3-pointer to give the Tar Heels' a 90-88 overtime road win. A month later, he finished with 28 points as North Carolina rallied from 15 points down to beat Clemson 103-93 in double overtime, a loss that dropped the Tigers to 0-53 all-time in Chapel Hill.
This time, Ellington hit his first five shots to outduel Clemson's K.C. Rivers in a back-and-forth game that was in doubt until the final seconds.
Rivers finished with 28 points and six 3-pointers for the Tigers, who saw their best ACC tournament run in more than four decades end just like all the others: without a title. Clemson has never won the tournament and was in the final for only the second time after upsetting No. 7 Duke in Saturday's semifinals. Their last appearance in the championship game was in 1962.
Clemson led 39-38 at halftime before the Tar Heels finally pushed ahead by getting out in transition for easy scores. The Tar Heels hit 15 of 20 shots to open the second half, using a 12-2 run to finally get some separation and eventually take a 72-59 lead on Danny Green's 3-pointer with 8:02 left.
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While the lead ultimately held up, Clemson wouldn't go away. The Tigers ran off eight straight points to get back in the game, and twice closed within four in the final 3 1/2 minutes. But they got no closer, with North Carolina hitting enough free throws on a shaky day at the line to hang onto the lead.
North Carolina shot 49 percent and held a 49-34 rebounding advantage which led to 20 second-chance points. The Tar Heels scored 26 points off the Tigers' 17 turnovers and scored 34 fast-break points by attacking Clemson's fullcourt press, offsetting a 14-for-24 day at the free throw line.
Green finished with 12 points, while Marcus Ginyard added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels.
Trevor Booker had 12 points for Tigers, who shot 42 percent.
[Associated Press; By AARON BEARD]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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