DURHAM, N.C. — As enjoyable as No. 7 Duke’s 20-point win at rival North Carolina was two nights earlier, Virginia made Monday night miserable for the Blue Devils.
Reece Beekman’s 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left gave Virginia a 69-68 win over the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Beekman’s shot came after the Cavaliers had missed previous shots with a chance to tie the game in the final 1:18. Jayden Gardner missed in the lane with seven seconds left and Duke’s Theo John secured the rebound.
But Virginia’s Kihei Clark forced a held ball. Virginia had the possession arrow and a new life.
Beekman took full advantage with his game-winning shot.
Gardner led Virginia (15-9, 9-5 ACC) with 17 points while Mark Williams’ 16 points paced Duke (19-4, 9-3 ACC).
After trailing the entire second half, sophomore guard Jeremy Roach finally put Duke in front 64-63 with a driving bank shot with four minutes to play.
John blocked Gardner’s shot at the rim and Keels rebounded his own miss to score with 2:51 to play putting Duke up 66-63 and Virginia forced a turnover with a shot clock violation at 2:04.
Beekman’s basket with 1:47 to play tied the score but he missed a free throw. But Keels hit two free throws with 1:26 giving Duke a 68-66 lead.
With Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski slapping the court with one hand imploring his Blue Devils to get a defensive stop, John blocked Kihei Clark’s shot but Duke let the ball go out of bounds.
Virginia also misfired on its second chance as Clark left a 3-pointer short. Duke’s Paolo Banchero turned the ball over in the lane with 37 seconds left, giving Virginia its chance to win.
Kadin Shedrick, a 6-11 redshirt sophomore from Holly Springs High School, added 16 points for the Cavaliers.
Facing a halftime deficit for just the second time this season, the Blue Devils made an early second-half push as Williams scored nine points over the first four minutes after halftime. But Duke never drew closer than three points during that stretch.
Williams picked up his fourth foul, on a charging call, with 15:05 to play and returned to the bench as John replaced him.
John drew a foul while muscling in a basket with 12:39 to play. His free throw left Virginia up 47-45.
With 11:15 left, Keels drilled a 3-pointer leaving the Cavaliers up 51-50.
But Shedrick slammed home a Gardner miss and, after Keels missed a 3-pointer, Clark scored in the lane after Keels slipped while guarding him to give Virginia a 55-50 lead.
Duke cut the Virginia lead to 59-58 and misfired on two opportunities to take the lead. The Blue Devils finally did on Roach’s basket with 4:00 left that gave them a 64-63 lead.
Virginia led by as man as 12 points in the first half before Duke’s late surge cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 34-29 at halftime.
The Cavaliers feasted by getting the ball inside, scoring 26 points in the paint over the game’s first 20 minutes. That, along with Williams picking up his second foul, caused Duke to switch from a man-to-man to a zone defense for the final six minutes before halftime.
The Blue Devils shot just 37% in the first half. AJ Griffin, who scored 27 points two nights earlier when Duke routed North Carolina 87-67 in Chapel Hill, missed all five of his first-half shots against Virginia to go scoreless.
Gardner and Franklin led Virginia with eight points each in the first half.
Franklin’s 3-pointer from the corner with 2:16 left in the half put Virginia up 32-20.
Duke climbed back as Wendell Moore scored inside, drew a foul and hit a free throw. A Bates Jones 3-pointer cut the Cavs lead to 32-26.
After Shedrick scored inside for Virginia, Banchero sank his only 3-pointer of the half leaving Duke down 34-29.
