Duke toughs out win at Michigan State
Duke trailed in the second half for the third game in a row.
And for the third time, the Blue Devils overcame that deficit — winning their 10th game to open the season.
Duke won 66-60 at Michigan State on Saturday, getting a big second half from Cameron Boozer and clutch points down the stretch from Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster at Breslin Center.
This matchup between storied programs came down to the wire, as expected. Boozer made go-ahead free throws with 1:35 left to put Duke ahead 57-55, a lead the Blue Devils (10-0) held on to for the rest of the game.
After a defensive stop, Duke went back to the same action that won Tuesday night’s game — Boozer initiating offense at the top, Evans coming to set a screen a slipping it, Boozer passing to him for an open 3-pointer.
He missed but was fouled. Evans’ three free throws made it a five-point lead in the final minute. After a Michigan State (8-1) bucket, Foster made a 3-pointer that got a friendly bounce (or two) for a 63-57 lead with 15 seconds left.
Foster made two clutch free throws and Patrick Ngongba II added one for the final points.
Boozer scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the second half. He was 7-for-13 from the field and had 15 rebounds, along with five assists and one turnover. He fouled out with 10 seconds left.
Foster had 12 points, that late 3-pointer being the only one he made in four attempts. Duke’s junior point guard had four rebounds and two assists.
Nikolas Khamenia was Duke’s third player in double-figure scoring, with 10 points. He also had nine rebounds, starting for the second straight game.
Duke trailed 34-31 at halftime and more than half of the Blue Devils’ points came on 3s.
Duke made 5 of 12 long-range shots to start the game. The lead was as large as six and the Blue Devils were up for the first 14 minutes.
But when Duke went cold, hitting one 3-pointer in the last nine minutes of the first half.
TIP-INS …
– Michigan State’s guards — Jeremy Fears Jr., Kur Teng, Trey Fort III and Divine Ugochukwu — were a combined 2-for-19 from the field. Fears was 0-for-10; though he did have 13 of Michigan State’s 18 assists, and only committed one turnover.
That comes on the heels of Florida’s guards being 10-for-35 against Duke on Tuesday night.
– Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler had 14 points. Twelve of those came in the first half on 3-pointers; he had three shot attempts in the second half.
– Part of that had to do with Duke mixing up defenses in the second half. Because of Boozer’s foul situation — along with Ngongba and Maliq Brown also picking up fouls — the Blue Devils went to a 3-2 zone for most of the last eight minutes.
The Spartans scored nine points in the final 9 minutes.
– Jon Scheyer now has 99 wins at Duke’s coach, one-third of the way through the regular season of his fourth year at the helm.
– Duke has a 10-day break, with its next game being Dec. 16 against Lipscomb.
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