Duke hangs on in PK Legacy opener
Blue Devils get double-doubles from Kyle Filipowski and Ryan Young in three-point win against Oregon State
Duke’s opener as a heavy favorite against Oregon State turned into a grinding bare-knuckle-brawl type of game to open the PK Legacy.
The eighth-ranked Blue Devils survived with a 54-51 win over the Beavers on Thursday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore. Duke will face the winner of Thursday’s game between Florida and Xavier in a semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Duke (5-1) trailed by as much as six in the second half. The Blue Devils led for the last 7½ minutes, but never by more than three points and held on through a final possession that saw Oregon State attempt two 3s.
Freshman Kyle Filipowski secured the ball to end the game, which was fitting because he was Duke’s best player down the stretch. He finished with a career-high 19 points and 14 rebounds, hitting a step-back 3-pointer to tie the game at 45-45.
Jeremy Roach made the go-ahead jumper less than a minute later, and then it became a matter of the Blue Devils holding on.
Ryan Young also had a double-double, teaming up with Filipowski to play most of the second half as Duke’s frontcourt. The grad transfer from Northwestern had 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Jacob Grandison made a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left to give Duke what wound up being the winning margin.
Duke’s lead at halftime was 29-27 only by the grace of a falling-out-of-bounds, corner-3 by Roach as the shot clock expired on Duke’s final possession.
The Blue Devils struggled to find their rhythm against Oregon State’s 3-2 matchup zone. They shot 10-for-31 (32.2%) in the first half and missed their first nine shots of the second half.