Duke survives scare from Georgia Tech

DURHAM – Everything seemed to be going wrong for Duke.

The Blue Devils’ shots weren’t falling. One starter was out, and another would soon leave with an injury. At the other end of the court, Georgia Tech was making loads of those shots you think can’t possibly go in. If this continued, Duke would see its seven-game winning streak snapped and suffer yet another ACC loss to the Yellow Jackets.

Instead, they pulled together in resounding fashion.

No. 11 Duke overcame a lot to beat Georgia Tech 84-79 on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Down 10 early in the second half, the Blue Devils used a series of quick turnovers, a gutsy performance from Kyle Filipowski and much-needed jolts from Tyrese Proctor and Ryan Young to secure their eighth straight win.

This one avenges a Dec. 2 defeat to Georgia Tech, the last time the Blue Devils lost.

It was never easy, with the Yellow Jackets (8-8, 1-4 ACC) shooting a season-high 54.5% from the field and 55% from 3. Duke (13-3, 4-1) played without Mark Mitchell (knee sprain) and saw Jeremy Roach go down with what seemed to also be a knee injury during the second half.

But the Blue Devils held together. Filipowski led Duke with a career-high 30 points, 13 rebounds and four assists, while Roach had 18 points before the injury. Proctor poured in 17 and Young added 10 second-half points to power the victory.

“That’s a big-time win for us, a gutsy win,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “For us to go into this game without Mark, he’s such an important guy for us. He’s a connector. Remove him from the equation, it puts everyone in a different spot no matter what.

“We missed him, but our guys know it’s ‘no excuses’ for us. It’s next man up.”

Duke felt that most early in the second half.

The game was tied at halftime, but Georgia Tech reeled off a 14-2 run, which included an alley-oop from Tafara Gapare to Kowacie Reeves, to go up 10 and officially send the Blue Devils to the brink of collapse.

But Duke’s fate completely changed in the span of a minute. Roach hit Filipowski for a 3-pointer. Then Jaylen Blakes blocked a shot, Filipowski corralled the ball and found Roach – who completed a three-point play in transition.

Not over yet.

Filipowski stole an errant pass, drove the length of the floor and scored in transition to cut the deficit to two and bring the Cameron crowd to life.

“We weren’t getting discouraged with ourselves, weren’t pulling away from each other,” Filipowski said. “If anything, we got closer.

“We knew the game plan and had to execute well and do it play by play. … We had to be patient with it and make it a process, getting those stops on defense. That’s exactly what we did.”

Duke forced 14 turnovers and committed a season-low four. That helped offset a sluggish offensive performance, marked by a particularly rough stretch of more than seven minutes in the first half without a made field goal.

The Blue Devils came alive midway through the second half, retaking the lead after Young scored off an offensive rebound to make it 56-55.

Minutes later, Duke took another hit when Roach tugged at his knee after making a steal and scoring in transition. He exited, attempted to come back in but then left and remained on the bench.

The Blue Devils weren’t fazed. Proctor buried three 3s in less than three minutes, the last of which put Duke up for good with 5:53 left, and Young turned in his top scoring output of the season while grabbing five second-half boards to help the Blue Devils hold on.

“Jeremy got hurt and obviously it sort of quieted the whole gym,” said Proctor, who re-entered the starting lineup for the first time since he missed three games with an ankle injury. “We said in the timeout, we need to play for our brother. Mark was also out tonight. That’s all I was thinking about.”

Said Scheyer: “We kept telling our guys not to overreact at some of the shots they were hitting. And they just kept hitting them. At a certain point, it’s like, ‘Alright, that’s how it’s going to go tonight.' You have to make an adjustment. The staff’s always thinking through what we can do, and that was beneficial for us.”

Scheyer said he didn’t see the replay and wasn’t sure of Roach’s status moving forward. He also said Mitchell wasn’t able to do much the last several days and will be re-evaluated this coming week. Duke hosts Pitt on Saturday, Jan. 20.

“A really great win for us, to be able to fight through adversity with two of our starters down,” Scheyer said. “Georgia Tech was rolling. I think they’re one of the more talented teams in our league. … For us to beat them, under these circumstances and with the way they were playing, I’m very proud of our team.”

TIP-INS: Georgia Tech hasn’t won at Cameron Indoor since 2004 – the year both teams made the Final Four – and hasn’t swept a season series with Duke since the 1995-96 season. … The game saw 11 lead changes and nine ties. … Said Filipowski: “Jeremy going out was tough and all, but I don’t think there was one second of doubt that we’d lose this game. We have a lot of trust in each other.” … Three Georgia Tech players scored in double figures: Nathan George with 17 and Baye Ndongo and Miles Kelly with 16 apiece. … The six days off before their next game is Duke’s longest break the rest of the season.