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Duke finds offense, holds off Xavier

Blue Devils reach championship game of PK Legacy behind season-high scoring from Jeremy Roach

Duke's Jeremy Roach, right, shoots over Xavier's Colby Jones, middle, and Jack Nunge during Friday's game.
Duke's Jeremy Roach, right, shoots over Xavier's Colby Jones, middle, and Jack Nunge during Friday's game. (Troy Wayrynen/USA Today Sports Images)

After a cold offensive performance in Duke’s opener of the PK Legacy, the Blue Devils’ most-important player stepped up.

Jeremy Roach scored a season-high 21 points in Duke’s 71-64 win over Xavier on Friday in a semifinal game of the PK Legacy.

Eighth-ranked Duke (6-1) will play either Gonzaga or Purdue on Sunday in the championship game, which will be 3:30 p.m. (eastern).

The junior captain of the Blue Devils was one point shy of his career high, which came in his freshman season. He was 9-for-15 from the field and also had five assists, four rebounds, two steals and one turnover. Roach entered the game shooting 31% (18 of 58) in Duke's last five games, without a game over 50%.

It’s the first time a Duke player has crossed the 20-point plateau in a game this season.

Duke led for the entire second half, but after an early surge took what was a six-point halftime lead to a 49-36 lead, Xavier (4-2) struck back with an 11-2 run and never let the Blue Devils get the lead back to double-digits.

While Duke’s offense was markedly better than the 54-51 win against Oregon State in the first game of the PK Legacy, its defense remained the backbone of coach Jon Scheyer’s first team.

Xavier’s last field goal came with 5:51 left, cutting Duke’s lead to 63-60. For the rest of the game, Xavier was 0-for-4 from the field with two turnovers and four made free throws. The Musketeers had 10 offensive rebounds, but none of them came in that final stretch.

Joining Roach in double-figure scoring were freshmen Mark Mitchell (16 points) and Kyle Filipowski (12). Mitchell scored 12 of his points in the second half, including a seven-point outburst in the opening minutes.

It didn’t take long for Duke to reverse course offensively from Thursday’s game against Oregon State. The Blue Devils shot 56% in the first half (14 of 25), paced by Roach’s 11 points and Filipowski’s 10.

Xavier gave the Blue Devils a taste of their own medicine early, grabbing six offensive rebounds in the first eight minutes. That didn’t lead to any second-chance points, though.

Duke outrebounded Xavier 33-32 — marking the first time this season that Duke hasn’t held a double-digit rebounding advantage.

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