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.