NEW YORK — COVID-19 meant Wendell Moore didn’t play in the ACC tournament as a freshman and didn’t lose there as a sophomore last year.
On Friday night, in his first normal ACC tournament experience, Moore’s clutch play put the Blue Devils on the verge of a championship.
The junior team captain scored 13 of his 17 points after halftime as the top-seeded Blue Devils fought their way to a 80-76 ACC tournament semifinal win over Miami.
The win moves No. 7-ranked Duke (28-5) into Saturday night’s ACC tournament final against either third-seeded North Carolina or No. 7 seed Virginia Tech.
Duke’s shot at the title comes two years after the ACC tournament was canceled prior to the Blue Devils playing a game and one year after Duke won two games but had to withdraw from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 cases.
Freshman A.J. Griffin scored 21 points and fellow freshman Paolo Banchero added 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils.
Kameron McGusty scored 24 points while Jordan Miller added 17 for Miami (23-10), which had defeated Duke, 76-74, in their lone regular-season meeting at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 8.
The Hurricanes led by as many as 11 in the first half but hit only 3 of 10 3-pointers in the second half. Missed free throws also hurt Miami, which finished 6 of 12 from the line.
The teams traded leads in the second half after the game was tied at intermission. Duke led by has many as seven points before Miami led 62-61 with 6:05 left.
Moore imposed his will to allow the Blue Devils to take over again. He hit a pull-up jumper, blocked a shot at the other end then scored on a drive at the other end giving Duke a 65-62 Duke lead with 5:28 to play.
Sam Waardenburg’s 3-pointer tied the game again, at 65, before Jeremy Roach hit two free throws. Keels scored in transition off a Moore pass with 4:13 left giving Duke a 69-65 lead.
Miami cut Duke’s lead to a single point at 72-71 when Isaiah Wong hit two free throws with 1:22 to play. But Moore drew a foul and hit two free throws of his own with 58.6 seconds left.
McGusty was called for traveling with 47 seconds left and Roach hit one of two free throws for Duke. But Banchero rebounded Roach’s miss giving Duke another chance. Trevor Keels hit two free throws with 33.7 seconds left and Duke led 75-69.
In all, Duke hit 10 of 12 free throws in the final minute to salt away the win.
After the teams were tied 36 at halftime, Banchero spurred an 10-4 run that gave the Blue Devils a 55-48 lead with 11:32 to play. Banchero scored six points during that stretch, including a rebound put-back off a Roach miss, a dunk off a pass from Trevor Keels and a jump shot.
Roach scored on a driving shot with 9:58 to play giving Duke a 59-52 lead.
But Miami fought back and when McGusty hit a 3-pointer over Mark Williams’ outstretched hand with 6:05 to play, the Hurricanes led 62-61.
Miami’s hot start, making seven of its first 10 shots, helped it build an 18-7 lead in the game’s first six minutes and four seconds. Duke struggled with turnovers early, with five before the game was 10 minutes old. But Banchero’s aggressive play on offense and strong rebounding brought Duke back.
He slammed in a Williams miss before scoring in the lane. Banchero’s pass to Williams in transition led to a basket that tied the score at 22.
Miami used another strong spurt of offense to go up 29-22. That’s when Griffin found his groove, scoring Duke’s next 12 points.
With Miami up 32-24, Griffin scored on a bank shot following a strong drive to the rim. He hit a 3-pointer and, after two missed Miami free throws, drilled another to tie the score at 32.
The teams traded baskets from there, with Roach scoring on a finger-roll lay in with one second left in the half to send the teams to halftime tied at 36.
