CHESTNUT HILL, MASS.—For a moment there, it looked like No. 7 Duke was in danger of repeating the 2017-18 season and falling to an unranked Boston College team.
The Blue Devils shipped up to Boston straight from their last contest in Clemson, S.C., and despite a slow start, took down Boston College 72-61 Saturday in front of a crowd heavily shaded Duke blue. The contest started out close and remained so for much of the first half, but thanks to 14 points from Wendell Moore Jr. on a 4-of-5 mark from three and a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double from Paolo Banchero, Duke escaped what would have been its second upset of the week.
"Paolo established himself early, I mean when we needed him most he came through. He really led us out there tonight," Moore said. "He was real strong with everything he did. We ran our version of iso for him, he just made strong drives every time. He might not have scored every time but he made the right play."
In contrast to how the Blue Devils came out of the half against Clemson, they didn’t let Boston College get back in the game to start the second half. Eagle guard Makai Ashton-Langford stroked a three for the first score of the period, but Moore answered right back with a trey of his own. Moore ran the floor on the next possession and drew a foul in the lane for two free points and although Boston College continued to fight, the talent on the Duke roster was too much for the Eagles to overcome. Even on the possessions that Boston College forced Blue Devil misses, Duke had the luxury of players like Banchero flying in to grab rebounds and throw down putback slams.
"Most of all I just wasn't thinking. I just shot it. I let it go and every time I shot it I believed it was going in," Moore said, also adding that he felt like he had good shot preparation prior to Saturday's game and that the confidence his teammates have in him gave him a boost.
But just when it looked like the Blue Devils (21-4, 11-3 in the ACC) had finally put the Eagles (9-14, 4-9) to bed, Boston College went on an 8-0 run to keep the Duke fans in the building leaning on the edge of their seats. Banchero finally ended Duke’s 3:29 scoring drought with a strong finish at the rim and Moore fired in his fourth triple of the game right after. Guard Jeremy Roach drew a pivotal charge just outside the circle to stop another Boston College attack, and from then on, Duke kept the Eagles at bay en route to the victory.
“We knew we'd have a tough time and we did. I thought the end of the first half we really executed well," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Started the second half and we got that 16 point lead and we let up and they did not, they just kept fighting and got it down to seven or eight. And then we went on I think an 11-0 run."
Moore and Banchero certainly had the most memorable games, but freshman guard Trevor Keels continued the midseason resurgence that he showed with 25 points against Clemson. Keels finished with 13 points and once again shot efficiently with his 5-for-7 clip.
The Blue Devils came out flat to start the game flat, turning the ball over three times in the first three minutes and only converting one shot from the field—a four-foot floater by Banchero.
Krzyzewski was forced to go to his bench early in this one, swapping in Keels and center Theo John for Mark Williams and Roach after Williams picked up his first foul early. That still didn’t spark any offense immediately, as Duke missed its next two field goal attempts and went into the under-16 media timeout with just the Banchero bucket to its name.
Keels took charge out of the timeout, doing it himself and getting to the rim to finish a contested layup. After an Ashton-Langford dunk attempt rattled out, Banchero slammed one of his own home on the ensuing possession to tie the game at six. A Theo John post shimmy and Wendell Moore Jr. 3-pointer later, and Duke had an 11-6 lead.
The back-and-forth affair continued for most of the first half though, as Boston College hung around in part thanks to its defense. The Eagles forced Duke to work hard for each bucket in the paint and drew a critical charge on Roach to send the crowd into a frenzy with 7:07 to go in the half.
Immediately out of the under-eight timeout, Boston College went back to its trusty big man James Karnik, who drained the floater to pull the Eagles within two. The momentum from that possession carried over too, with the Eagles forcing Banchero to take a tough stepback three as the shot clock winded down and then quickly scoring another bucket of their own.
"Karnik played great tonight," Krzyzewski said. "When he plays well, and he's played well most of the time—against Virginia Tech here he owned the game—and pretty much for a while he was owning this game until our big guys started responding."
Running with the momentum, Ashton-Langford found his brother Demarr Langford on the transition who finished a difficult layup for the and-one. Langford missed the free throw, but Duke found itself clinging to a 26-24 lead with just over three minutes to play.
Williams chipped in a basket after corralling an offensive rebound and that went on to kickstart a 10-4 Duke run into the half capped off by a Williams slam dunk to make it 37-28 Duke.
Duke heads home for two games in Cameron Indoor Stadium this week, the first coming Tuesday against Wake Forest.
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Jake Piazza is a Trinity senior and was sports editor of The Chronicle's 117th volume.