DURHAM, N.C. — No. 17 Duke turned in a workmanlike performance to open its ACC basketball schedule with a resounding win Saturday.
Pushing the ball inside to exploit a height advantage, the Blue Devils led by as many as 15 points in the first half on the way to a 75-59 win over Boston College at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
While freshman Mark Mitchell led the balanced Blue Devils (8-2, 1-0 ACC) with 15 points, the 6-8 forward scored 13 of them in the second half when Duke never saw its lead fall below 10 points.
Freshman center Kyle Filipowski continued his strong start to his college career with 13 points and 10 rebounds to pace Duke’s productive interior players. It’s the fifth double-double he has produced already this season.
“I think I think it just keeps getting better and better every game with how much overall effort we put into this,” Filipowski said. “You know, it’s not just one guy that we’re relying on. We’re playing through the pieces that we need to play through. We are very selfless.”
Duke’s other big men, 7-1 freshman center Dereck Lively and 6-10 graduate student Ryan Young, had productive first halves helping the Blue Devils take a 35-23 halftime lead. Lively scored six of his eight points before halftime while Young scored all six of his points in the first half.
Jacob Grandison scored 10 points, including a pair of first-half 3-pointers, for the Blue Devils, who shot 52.8% in the win. Duke hit 58.3% in the second half to pull away.
Boston College (5-4, 0-1) shot 37.5% while making just 5 of 22 3-pointers.
“Our defense was really good,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “We finally could string some stops together. I thought that translated into some good offense for us.”
After leading 35-23 at halftime, Duke started the second half hitting four of its first five shots to open a 47-32 lead on Tyrese Proctor’s 3-pointer with 15:22 to play.
Boston College pulled within 10 points at 12:49. But Duke unleashed an 11-0 run to open a commanding 58-37 lead with 10:59 remaining.
Mark Mitchell’s driving basket started the surge, followed by Dariq Whitehead’s transition layup, two Filipowski free throws, Whitehead’s rebound basket and a Jeremy Roach 3-pointer.
Duke took control in the first half, when the Blue Devils limited the Eagles to 27.3% shooting to take a 35-23 halftime lead.
Duke’s size overwhelmed the Eagles. The Blue Devils recorded six first-half blocked shots while, at the other end, Lively, Filipowski and Young combined to score 20 points.
The Blue Devils established their interior game early on offense, using dribble-drives and entry passes to get the ball inside to Lively and Filipowski. Of Duke’s first 15 points, 12 were recorded in the paint.
Boston College adjusted its defense by collapsing on Duke’s forwards and centers when they took entry passes. But that left some gaps on the perimeter. Grandison came off the bench to hit a pair of first-half 3-pointers.
The second of those 3-pointers started a 7-0 Duke run that opened its lead to 24-16 with 6:10 left in the half. A Proctor layup with 4:01 left until halftime gave Duke its first double-digit lead at 28-18.
Jaylen Blakes stuck a pull-up jumper with 1:27 left giving Duke its largest lead of the first half at 35-20.
