Paolo Banchero’s 16 points and 14 rebounds carried No. 7 Duke in a 72-61 victory against host Boston College on Saturday afternoon at Chestnut Hill, Mass.
A strong second-half surge repelled Boston College’s upset bid as the Blue Devils completed a grueling week. Duke, which played for the third time in six days, scored only one point in the last four minutes against the Eagles.
Duke (21-4, 11-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) is tied for first place in the league with Notre Dame, which knocked off Clemson later Saturday.
The Blue Devils played five of their last six games on the road, losing only the home date with Virginia on Monday night.
Wendell Moore Jr. added 14 points, Trevor Keels had 13 points, and Mark Williams and AJ Griffin both had 10 points for Duke.
James Karnik’s 21 points were tops for Boston College (9-14, 4-9), which has dropped five of its last six games. DeMarr Langford Jr. supplied 16 points and Makai Ashton-Langford posted 10 points.
The Eagles shot 1-for-12 on 3-pointers against the ACC’s top 3-point defense.
Duke was 7-for-21 on 3s, with Moore connecting on four of his five long-range attempts.
Moore didn’t seem to have any lingering ailment from the hard fall he took two nights earlier when Clemson’s David Collins committed a flagrant foul that resulted in an ejection and a one-game suspension.
Boston College closed within eight points early in the second half. Duke followed with a 14-2 burst, pretty much eliminating doubt about the outcome.
Still, the Eagles had a late-game 11-0 run to reduce the margin. Boston College ended up shooting 40.3 percent for the game and finished with just nine turnovers.
Duke closed the first half strong, using an 11-2 stretch to claim a 37-28 edge at halftime.
Duke won its sixth straight meeting with the Eagles.
–Field Level Media
