Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, helping No. 9 Duke to an 84-78 win over visiting No. 2 Auburn in Durham, N.C., on Wednesday in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
Flagg also had 11 rebounds for the Blue Devils (6-2), who won their second straight game despite trailing by 11 in the opening minutes. Isaiah Evans added 18 points for Duke, while Tyrese Proctor chipped in 12 and Caleb Foster 11.
Johni Broome had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Auburn (7-1), which allowed a season high in points. Tahaad Pettiford also scored 20 for the Tigers, followed by Chad Baker-Mazara’s 17. Miles Kelly added 14 points and three steals.
Leading by seven at halftime, Duke grew its advantage to 50-38 on Khaman Maluach’s bucket with 18:23 remaining.
Later in the half, Broome scored five straight points for Auburn, including his dunk to trim the deficit to four with 11:06 remaining.
After Flagg’s three-point play later extended Duke’s lead back to seven, Pettiford hit a layup and Kelly nailed a 3-pointer to pull Auburn within two with 7:40 left.
With the lead still at two points moments later, Proctor beat the shot clock with a trey to give Duke a 73-68 edge at the 4:31 mark.
Still leading by five, Duke extended its advantage to 79-72 on Kon Knueppel’s layup with 59 seconds left, just his second field goal of the game.
Auburn got off to a fast start, as Kelly’s back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Tigers an early 13-2 lead. Duke scored six straight points, but Baker-Mazara knocked down a jumper to put Auburn ahead 15-8.
Trailing 16-10, the Blue Devils received a spark from Evans, who knocked down the first of six triples in half with 11:04 left.
Later, following Kelly’s 3-pointer that extended Auburn’s advantage to 22-15, Evans made consecutive triples to trim the Tigers’ lead to one. Evans’ 3-pointer with 6:27 remaining put Duke its first lead at 26-24. Flagg’s subsequent free throws and Brown’s putback layup pushed Duke’s lead to 30-24.
Baker-Mazara’s pullup triple cut Duke’s lead to one with 2:16 left, before Foster and Evans closed the opening half with 3-pointers, giving the Blue Devils a 43-36 halftime cushion.
–Field Level Media
