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NEWARK – Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils are headed to the Elite Eight.
Flagg scored 30 points to lead top-seeded Duke to a 100-93 victory over No. 4 Arizona in the Sweet 16 Thursday at Prudential Center in the East Region.
The Blue Devils will play second-seeded Alabama on Saturday in the next round.
The Crimson Tide rolled past sixth-seeded BYU 113-88 with an NCAA Tournament-record 25 three-pointers in a historic shooting performance.
Still, Alabama will have its hands full with Flagg and Duke, which fended off a second-half comeback attempt from the Wildcats.
Duke shot 60.0 percent from the field and went 11-of-19 from the perimeter.
Arizona hung with the Blue Devils in the first half but took over – briefly – in the opening minutes of the second half.
A jumper from Khaman Maluach just more than four minutes into the second half put Duke up by 15 as the blue-clad crowd roared.
But Caleb Love, who finished with a game-high 35 points for Arizona, helped the Wildcats, who shot 45.5 percent, cut it to single digits.
A game that once looked headed for a blowout turned into a fight to the finish.
A three from Carter Bryant from the left corner with 1:56 to go sliced Duke’s lead to five.
But that would be as close as the Wildcats could get.
The Blue Devil made key free throws late and grabbed crucial rebounds in the final minute to secure the win.
The final seconds of the first half were falling off the clock when Arizona missed a shot and Duke’s Mason Gillis corralled the loose ball for the rebound.
Gillis fed the ball to Flagg, who pushed the ball up court, got just past the March Madness logo in the middle of the floor and launched a deep three-pointer.
The ball fell through the net, barely beating the buzzer.
That was Flagg’s second triple of the first half and his seventh bucket – he made some tough shots inside, too, and ultimately went into halftime with 18 points after a stellar opening half.
He kept it going in the second half.
Flagg also made some tremendous passes, including a great feed to Sion James in the left corner just more than two minutes into the second half – James drained the three to put the Blue Devils up by 12.
After Arizona cut it to five with less than two minutes to go, Flagg went to the foul line and calmy drained two huge foul shots that pushed Duke’s lead back to seven.
Flagg, who went 9-of-19 (3-of-5 from three) from the field with six rebounds and seven assists, went back to the line with 44.5 seconds left and the second of two to make it an eight-point game.
Arizona came out on fire, making five of its first seven shots, including three triples, to take an early 13-10 lead by the first media timeout and quieting a largely pro-Duke crowd – and none of the Wildcats’ early points came from Love, who went 11-of-21 from the field, including 5-of-11 from deep.
But Love’s quiet first half didn’t last long.
After the Blue Devils went up by seven, Love drained a three from the left wing with just more than eight minutes to go in the first half for his bucket of the game.
Love caught fire after that, hitting two more triples in the half and going into the break with 14 points to help the Wildcats stay within striking distance of Duke.
He was even better in the second half.
Love had 21 points after the break, doing just about everything for the Wildcats.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: March Madness: Duke, Cooper Flagg beat Arizona in Sweet 16
Continue reading...
Flagg scored 30 points to lead top-seeded Duke to a 100-93 victory over No. 4 Arizona in the Sweet 16 Thursday at Prudential Center in the East Region.
The Blue Devils will play second-seeded Alabama on Saturday in the next round.
The Crimson Tide rolled past sixth-seeded BYU 113-88 with an NCAA Tournament-record 25 three-pointers in a historic shooting performance.
Still, Alabama will have its hands full with Flagg and Duke, which fended off a second-half comeback attempt from the Wildcats.
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Duke shot 60.0 percent from the field and went 11-of-19 from the perimeter.
Arizona pushes Duke late, but the Blue Devils hang on
Arizona hung with the Blue Devils in the first half but took over – briefly – in the opening minutes of the second half.
A jumper from Khaman Maluach just more than four minutes into the second half put Duke up by 15 as the blue-clad crowd roared.
But Caleb Love, who finished with a game-high 35 points for Arizona, helped the Wildcats, who shot 45.5 percent, cut it to single digits.
A game that once looked headed for a blowout turned into a fight to the finish.
A three from Carter Bryant from the left corner with 1:56 to go sliced Duke’s lead to five.
But that would be as close as the Wildcats could get.
The Blue Devil made key free throws late and grabbed crucial rebounds in the final minute to secure the win.
Cooper Flagg shows why he’ll be the No. 1 pick
The final seconds of the first half were falling off the clock when Arizona missed a shot and Duke’s Mason Gillis corralled the loose ball for the rebound.
Gillis fed the ball to Flagg, who pushed the ball up court, got just past the March Madness logo in the middle of the floor and launched a deep three-pointer.
The ball fell through the net, barely beating the buzzer.
That was Flagg’s second triple of the first half and his seventh bucket – he made some tough shots inside, too, and ultimately went into halftime with 18 points after a stellar opening half.
He kept it going in the second half.
Flagg also made some tremendous passes, including a great feed to Sion James in the left corner just more than two minutes into the second half – James drained the three to put the Blue Devils up by 12.
After Arizona cut it to five with less than two minutes to go, Flagg went to the foul line and calmy drained two huge foul shots that pushed Duke’s lead back to seven.
Flagg, who went 9-of-19 (3-of-5 from three) from the field with six rebounds and seven assists, went back to the line with 44.5 seconds left and the second of two to make it an eight-point game.
Caleb Love stellar for Arizona
Arizona came out on fire, making five of its first seven shots, including three triples, to take an early 13-10 lead by the first media timeout and quieting a largely pro-Duke crowd – and none of the Wildcats’ early points came from Love, who went 11-of-21 from the field, including 5-of-11 from deep.
But Love’s quiet first half didn’t last long.
After the Blue Devils went up by seven, Love drained a three from the left wing with just more than eight minutes to go in the first half for his bucket of the game.
Love caught fire after that, hitting two more triples in the half and going into the break with 14 points to help the Wildcats stay within striking distance of Duke.
He was even better in the second half.
Love had 21 points after the break, doing just about everything for the Wildcats.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: March Madness: Duke, Cooper Flagg beat Arizona in Sweet 16
Continue reading...
