DURHAM, N.C. — Duke’s hard-nosed defense, led by a freshman, and key late baskets by its most experienced player earned the Blue Devils a thrilling win over rival North Carolina on Saturday.
Dereck Lively recorded eight of Duke’s season-high 11 blocked shots and Jeremy Roach scored eight points over the game’s final 5:45 as the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels, 63-57, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Roach finished with 20 points, while Lively had 14 rebounds to go with his eight blocked shots for Duke (17-6, 8-4 ACC).
Having done so much on defense and in rebounding, Lively exerted himself offensively with a rebound to put Duke up 59-57 with 1:30 to play.
Leaky Black missed an open 3-pointer for UNC with 1:02 left before Kyle Filipowski rebounded his own missed shot to allow Duke, leading by two points, to maintain possession with 35.3 seconds left.
After a Duke timeout, Roach found a driving lane in the middle of the UNC defense to score with 24 seconds left giving the Blue Devils a 61-57 lead.
Armando Bacot scored 14 points to lead UNC (15-8, 7-5), which shot 34.3%. Black added 13 points.
When UNC made just one of its first 11 shots after halftime, Duke partially took advantage to build a six-point lead.
From a 35-all tie, Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell both scored on driving bank shots in the lane. Filipowski’s basket in transition off a down court pass from Proctor put Duke up 41-35 with 14:31 to play.
With Duke up 44-38, UNC pushed back with a Caleb Love 3-pointer and a Bacot dunk after Proctor’s turnover on a Duke fast break. After a Proctor missed shot in the lane, Love’s runner gave UNC a 45-44 lead with 11:23 to play.
Duke struggled to hit shots early in the game, making just five of its first 16 shots while turning it over six times. UNC’s largest lead of the first half was 19-12 with 9:20 to play.
But Duke’s half-court defense was strong enough to keep the Tar Heels from building on that lead.
After Puff Johnson’s 3-pointer gave UNC a 24-17 lead, the Blue Devils went on a 9-0 run to move in front.
While UNC went scoreless over seven consecutive possessions, Filipowski hit a 3-pointer to ignite the Duke surge.
After Mitchell split two free throws, Proctor scored on a layup in transition. With 3:51 left, Roach’s transition layup gave Duke its first lead of the game. He was also fouled on the play and his free throw put Duke ahead 26-24.
From there, the game saw three ties before Proctor’s 3-pointer with 1:36 left put Duke in front 33-30 before the Blue Devils took a 33-32 halftime lead.
