Duke put together a better second half than first half and pulled away from Boston College for an 80-65 win on Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils (18-5, 9-3 ACC) took a four-point halftime lead and made it 11 by scoring seven points in the first two minutes of the second half.
Duke’s lead never shrunk below eight for the rest of the game, and it was double digits for the last 13 minutes. That part followed a similar script as Wednesday night’s win over Notre Dame, as the lead also never got to 20.
Duke had nine assists on 16 field goals in the first half. Not that a 56.2% assist rate is bad, but the ratio in the second half was nine assists on 11 field goals (81.8%) before the last few minutes, when Duke was trying to burn clock and shorten the game.
All five starters for Duke scored in double figures, led by Mark Mitchell’s 17 points. He was 6-for-7 from the field and added seven rebounds and two assists.
Kyle Filipowski scored 16 points and got the better of his matchup against BC center Quinten Post, who had eight points. Jeremy Roach also had 16 points, along with four assists and three rebounds.
Jared McCain had his third double-double of the season, the 6-3 guard scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. It’s the fifth time he’s had double-digit rebounds this year, and third time in the last four games. Tyrese Proctor added 10 points.
BC led briefly in the first two minutes, and then Duke surged with a 9-0 run. The Blue Devils never got the lead to double digits, though, and the Eagles had a surge of their own to lead 28-27 on a Claudell Harris Jr. 3-pointer with 4:47 left until halftime.
A Duke team that has struggled mightily in closing first halves was marginally better in this one. A lot of that was traced to freshman Sean Stewart, whose confidence keeps growing. He hit two short hook shots after Harris’ 3, and Caleb Foster nailed a 3 and Roach made a mid-range shot in the last few minutes to usher the Blue Devils into halftime with a 36-32 lead.
TIP-INS: Filipowski was 2-for-17 on 3-pointers in Duke’s last five games; he was 2-for-4 against BC. … Mason Madsen led BC with 15 points, and Claudell Harris Jr. scored 13. … Duke is now 28-3 across the last two seasons when Mitchell scores at least 10 points.
