Blue Devils falter on road again

First, Duke lost its point guard.

Much later, Duke lost its composure.

Finally, Duke lost the ball with a chance to tie the game.

It all spelled out a 72-68 loss to Georgia Tech in the ACC opener on Saturday at McCamish Pavilion.

Coming off of Wednesday night’s loss at Arkansas, No. 7 Duke played from behind for most of the afternoon against a Georgia Tech team that beat two Top 25 teams this week (Mississippi State on Tuesday night).

The Blue Devils (5-3) found themselves with a four-point lead after Mark Mitchell’s second dunk of a possession — he missed a free throw after the first one — with 2:22 left. But Mitchell was called for a taunting technical, and Miles Kelly making both free throws and then hitting a jumper on the ensuing possession tied the game.

Kyle Filipowski scored to give Duke a lead again, but those were Duke’s final points. Freshman Baye Ndongo, who didn’t play in GT’s first three games, scored on lobs on back-to-back possessions to tie the game and then take a 70-68 lead with 44 seconds left.

Ndongo had 10 points in the two games he’d played; he scored 21 against Duke.

The Blue Devils didn’t get a shot to the rim for the rest of the game. Jeremy Roach committed a turnover with 32 seconds left. Duke got the ball back after a missed free throw, ran a play that went nowhere with Roach pivoting and calling a timeout with 5.7 seconds left, and on the in-bound play Roach’s shot was blocked.

Duke was 11-for-23 on layup attempts. The Blue Devils had 11 assists on 26 field goals — running that ratio to 34 assists on 79 field goals (43%) in the last three games combined — and rebounds were even, at 33-33.

Duke lost Tyrese Proctor to a left ankle injury 76 seconds into the game. On Duke’s second possession, Proctor drove to the left and landed awkwardly. He was helped off the court by reserves Stanley Borden and Neal Begovich and didn’t return.

That came in the midst of Georgia Tech scoring 12 straight points, all on 3-pointers. That prompted an early timeout from coach Jon Scheyer ahead of the game’s first media break.

GT’s lead was as large as 14-3 in the first half before Duke gathered itself. There was a 7-2 run capped by a Roach 3-pointer, and then a 12-2 run also capped by a Roach 3-pointer that gave Duke its first lead, at 23-21.

The Yellow Jackets scored the next seven points and took a 35-31 lead into halftime.

Georgia Tech (4-2) bumped the lead back to 11 a couple of times early in the second half, and it was 56-46 with about 9½ minutes left. Duke got back into the game with a 14-4 run after that, setting up the tight final few minutes.

Duke’s starting lineup was the same as it was for the season opener, when Mitchell was out with an ankle injury. Ryan Young started at center, bumping Filipowski to his natural 4-spot, along with Proctor, Roach and Jared McCain.

TIP-INS: GT’s Kowacie Reeves was 2-for-12 on 3s in the last four games; he hit all three 3s he took in the first half. … Mitchell scored 11 points, meaning this is the second time Duke has lost when he’s scored in double figures. The other time was also Duke’s first ACC road game last season, which was at Wake Forest. … This is the second time Duke has lost consecutive games under Scheyer; the other was last season’s blowout at Miami, and then the controversial overtime loss at Virginia.