DURHAM, N.C. — On a rough shooting night, Duke saw its 12-point lead halved as the clock ticked under five minutes to play.
It took a gritty play by a freshman, and more gutsy shots from Blue Devils’ junior captain Jeremy Roach to subdue N.C. State.
Mark Mitchell’s free throws after an offensive rebound, followed by two clutch jumpers in the lane by Roach, boosted Duke’s lead back to double-digits and the Blue Devils held on to beat the Wolfpack, 71-67, in ACC basketball Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The win completes a perfect season of home games for Duke (22-8, 13-6 ACC), which went unbeaten in 16 games on Coach K Court. It also avenged one of Duke’s most humbling losses of the season, an 84-60 setback to NC State at PNC Arena on Jan. 4.
Roach scored 20 points to pace Duke as hit made 9 of 19 shots from the field. But he hit two free throws and Tyrese Proctor (12 points) four in the final 40.3 seconds.
Mark Mitchell scored 12 and Kyle Filipowski added 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Filipowski produced those points despite hitting just 2 of 11 shots from the field. Duke shot 41.8% while making only 2 of 19 3-pointers.
But the Blue Devils held high-scoring NC State guard Terquavion Smith to eight points on 2-of-9 shooting. It’s just the second time this season Smith has failed to score at least 10 points.
Jarkel Joiner poured in 26 points for the Wolfpack (22-9, 12-8), who shot 36.9% while hitting just 8 of 28 3-pointers.
Leading 33-29 at halftime, Duke opened a double-digit lead by hitting four of its first five shots of the second half.
Mitchell started the surge with a 3-pointer from the right corner off a kick-out pass from Filipowski. After Joiner hit a 3-pointer, Proctor scored on a driving layup before Filipowski banked in a basket following a spin move in the lane.
After Clark put-back a Burns miss to score for NC State, Proctor hit two free throws and Mitchell’s jumper in the lane bounced off the rim and in giving Duke a 44-34 lead with 16:44 to play.
The Wolfpack’s 8-0 run, punctuated by another Joiner 3-pointer, cut Duke’s lead to 46-44. But the Blue Devils scored the game’s next six points on shots in the lane by Roach, Filipowski and Dariq Whitehead.
When Ryan Young rebounded Jacob Grandison’s missed 3-pointer to score at 10:33, Duke’s lead was back to double-digits at 54-44.
With 8:38 to play Filipowski muscled in a basket and drew a foul. His free throw gave Duke a 59-47 lead.
NC State scored the game’s next six points during a four-minute scoring drought for the Blue Devils.
That’s when Mitchell rebounded Filipowski’s missed 3-pointer, drew a foul and hit two free throws. Roach scored his baskets from there and Duke led 65-53 with 2:05 to play.
While Duke defense and foul trouble contributed to Smith going scoreless in the first half, Roach played a key factor in the Blue Devils taking a 33-29 halftime lead.
Roach scored eight points, scoring his four baskets on aggressive drives through the lane. Duke needed those high-percentage shots because it shot 38.5% overall in the first half. The Blue Devils hit just 1 of 9 3-pointers as they struggled to hit jump shots.
Still, the Blue Devils kept the Wolfpack bottled up for the most part other than Joiner, who scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the first half.
N.C. State led 17-15 when Duke went on a 9-0 run to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the half.
Roach scored on one of his drives before Proctor hit two free throws after Smith was called for a dead-ball technical foul after shoving Proctor, who fell to the court after falling off balance and getting his feet caught in Burns’ at 8:20.
Filipowski split two free throws before Lively scored two baskets — one on a slam off a lob from Proctor and another on a layin — to put Duke up 24-17 with 5:59 left in the half.
Joiner scored the game’s next five points, hitting perimeter shots despite being well-covered.
Proctor’s pull-up jumper with 43 seconds left gave Duke a 33-29 lead and Joiner missed shots on N.C. State’s final two possessions of the half.
