Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg scored 16 of his game-high 22 factors within the second half, serving to No. 9 Duke to an 84-78 win over visiting No. 2 Auburn in Durham, N.C., on Wednesday within the SEC/ACC Problem.
Flagg additionally had 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils (6-2), who gained their second straight recreation regardless of trailing by 11 within the opening minutes. Isaiah Evans added 18 factors for Duke, whereas Tyrese Proctor chipped in 12 and Caleb Foster 11.
Johni Broome had 20 factors and 12 rebounds for Auburn (7-1), which allowed a season excessive in factors. Tahaad Pettiford additionally scored 20 for the Tigers, adopted by Chad Baker-Mazara’s 17. Miles Kelly added 14 factors and three steals.
Main by seven at halftime, Duke grew its benefit to 50-38 on Khaman Maluach’s bucket with 18:23 remaining.
Later within the half, Broome scored 5 straight factors for Auburn, together with his dunk to trim the deficit to 4 with 11:06 remaining.
After Flagg’s three-point play later prolonged Duke’s lead again to seven, Pettiford hit a layup and Kelly nailed a 3-pointer to tug Auburn inside two with 7:40 left.
With the lead nonetheless at two factors moments later, Proctor beat the shot clock with a trey to present Duke a 73-68 edge on the 4:31 mark.
Nonetheless main by 5, Duke prolonged its benefit to 79-72 on Kon Knueppel’s layup with 59 seconds left, simply his second area purpose of the sport.
Auburn received off to a quick begin, as Kelly’s back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Tigers an early 13-2 lead. Duke scored six straight factors, however Baker-Mazara knocked down a jumper to place Auburn forward 15-8.
Trailing 16-10, the Blue Devils acquired a spark from Evans, who knocked down the primary of six triples in half with 11:04 left.
Later, following Kelly’s 3-pointer that prolonged Auburn’s benefit to 22-15, Evans made consecutive triples to trim the Tigers’ result in one. Evans’ 3-pointer with 6:27 remaining put Duke its first lead at 26-24. Flagg’s subsequent free throws and Brown’s putback layup pushed Duke’s result in 30-24.
Baker-Mazara’s pullup triple lower Duke’s result in one with 2:16 left, earlier than Foster and Evans closed the opening half with 3-pointers, giving the Blue Devils a 43-36 halftime cushion.
–Discipline Stage Media