CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Two free throws by Kyle Filipowski with 12.4 seconds remaining helped No. 16 Duke secure its first road ACC victory of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils (12-4, 3-2) had three players score in double figures, led by Dariq Whitehead, who scored double-digit points for the fourth consecutive game with a career-high 18 points. Filipowski tallied his 14th game in double digits with 15 points and Mark Mitchell joined his classmates with 14 points.
Whitehead eclipsed his previous career high (16) on 6-of-12 shooting overall, including 4-of-8 from three-point range and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. It’s the second straight game the freshman has made four three-pointers. Mitchell shone on the defensive end of the floor as well, logging a career-high three blocks. Filipowski finished one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards, including four offensive rebounds.
Graduate Ryan Young made his first shot of the afternoon to extend his streak of made field goals to 14 in a row, before finishing the day 2-of-5 from the field en route to seven total points. Young also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists, which matches a career-high he set at Northwestern against Indiana.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Duke started fast, making its first three shots of the afternoon and taking an early lead, 7-2, three minutes into the game.
- Dariq Whitehead connected on his third three-pointer of the game at the 7:32 mark of the first half to move into double figures for the third consecutive game.
- The Blue Devils tallied an assist on 12 of their 14 made shots in the first half, led by five dimes from Ryan Young. Duke held the lead, 37-33, after the first 20 minutes of play.
- Duke came out of the locker room with a 12-5 run to establish its largest lead of the game of 11 points, 49-38, at the first media timeout of the second half.
- A 16-2 run spanning five and a half minutes by Boston College tied the game at 54 apiece with just under nine minutes remaining.
- Duke’s defense responded by holding the hosts without a made field goal for nearly five minutes and took a slight advantage, 58-55, into the final media timeout of the game.
- Holding a one-point lead, Duke’s defense held strong with under a minute on the clock, with Mark Mitchell blocking a go-ahead layup attempt by the Eagles.
- Filipowski connected on two free throws to push Duke back into the lead, 65-64, with 12.4 seconds remaining. The Blue Devils’ defense held strong on the final possession to secure the road victory.
NOTES
- Duke held a 38-32 rebounding advantage, marking the 12th time in 16 games this season that Duke has out-rebounded the opponent. Duke is 11-1 in those games.
- Duke finished the game with 15 assists on 21 made field goals (.714) – the team’s second-best assist percentage this season, behind 18 assists on 25 made field goals (.720) vs. Bellarmine on 11/21/22.
- At the free throw line, Duke was 17-of-19 for the game, including 5-of-6 in the game’s final five minutes. For the season, Duke is 39-of-46 (.848) at the line in the final five minutes of the game.
- Over the last 25 seasons, Duke has lost just six regular-season games by 20 or more points and is now 6-0 in the game to follow.
- Duke has now connected on at least one three-point field goal in 1,169 consecutive games – the nation’s second longest active streak.
- Freshman Dariq Whitehead scored a career-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three–point range and 2-of-2 at the free throw
- Whitehead has scored in double figures in four consecutive games.
- Freshman Kyle Filipowski finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, while matching a career high with three blocked shots.
- Graduate Ryan Young extended his streak of made field goals to 14 before missing his second shot of the game. He finished 2-of-5 from the field, 3-of-3 at the line for seven points with eight rebounds.
- Young tied a career high with five assists (no turnovers). He previously had five assists in game vs. Indiana on 2/10/21 while playing for Northwestern.
QUOTES
- “Big time ACC road win for us. We knew coming in, one, off the game that we had Wednesday night, we learned a lot. Also, knowing Boston College, they’re a really good team in general but especially at home. This is the first time they’ve lost an ACC game here. A lot of respect for them. For us to be in an end-of-game situation like that, I thought we grew up a lot. And [Mark Mitchell] is a winner. He’s made some big time plays down the stretch. Blocks, his drive, and he’s not the only one but really proud of what he did and proud of our team to figure out a way to win. That’s what it’s all about.” — head coach Jon Scheyer
- “I think we haven’t had a situation like this yet. Not everything was going our way, but I think we just tried to fight, really. Getting offensive rebounds, that’s just pure fight, pure will. And that won us the game, and stepping up and hitting those free throws was a big thing by Flip (Kyle Filipowski). I think we grew up in the last 45 seconds. It was our first time in that situation, I think we’re just going to keep learning from that each and every game and just keep trying to grow.” — freshman Mark Mitchell
