Mark Mitchell and Jared McCain boost No. 14 Duke past Syracuse 86-66
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Mark Mitchell scored 18 of his career-high 21 points in the first half and Jared McCain finished with 18 points to lead No. 14 Duke over Syracuse 86-66 on Tuesday night.
Duke made all eight 3-point attempts after halftime and finished by shooting 75% from the field in the second half.
Jeremy Roach’s 17 points and Tyrese Proctor’s 14 points were a boost from Duke’s backcourt. Kyle Filipowski posted all 12 of his points in the second half as the Blue Devils (10-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) increased their winning streak to five games.
Maliq Brown had 26 points on 11-for-16 shooting and Judah Mintz added 18 points for Syracuse (10-4, 1-2), which was 4-for-16 on 3-pointers and committed 17 turnovers.
McCain drained four 3-pointers in the first 10:10 of the second half to push Duke to a 65-51 lead. The Blue Devils were 0-for-9 on first-half 3s, then went 7-for-7 in building a double-digit lead.
Duke led 35-33 at the halftime, with Mitchell scoring 18 of Duke’s points and putting the sophomore forward within two of his career high.
Brown and Mintz both had 12 first-half points to help overcome Syracuse’s 34.5% shooting and nine turnovers.
It was the only scheduled meeting of the season between the teams. It came 10 years after former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s often-replayed storming onto the Cameron Indoor Stadium court and subsequent ejection in the waning seconds of Duke’s narrow victory.
BIG PICTURE
Syracuse: The Orange had trouble getting untracked on offense and that finally caught up to them when the perimeter defense hit snags. Even with Brown’s best offensive outing of his career, the Orange lost for the ninth consecutive meeting with Duke.
Duke: The Blue Devils have connected on at least one 3-point shot in 1,202 consecutive games and so they were bound to get going from behind the arc in some degree. Duke shot above 50% from the field for the fourth time in the last five games.
UP NEXT
Syracuse: Host Boston College on Jan. 10.
Duke: Visit Notre Dame on Saturday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball