BC put together a gritty first half, but ultimately fell apart in the second against an exceedingly talented Duke team. When the dust cleared, it was an 80-55 Eagle loss in Durham.
The Eagles came out firing on all cylinders and shocked the Blue Devils as they jumped out to a 2-point halftime lead. The Eagles out-hustled Duke in the half, grabbing loose balls and defensive rebounds. Bowman acted as a facilitator and the Eagles spread their scoring over seven offensive players. The Eagles elected to let the Blue Devils take their chances from deep rather than exploit their advantage inside the paint, and Duke obliged going 1-15 from behind the arc in the first half. BC went into the locker room with themomentum and a 30-28 halftime lead.
The wheels came off quickly in the second half. Duke came out of the intermission with guns blazing, going on an 8-0 run to open play. Cam Reddish and company finally made BC pay from behind the arc, hitting 6-9 in the second. They also took advantage of their size and athleticism inside, racking up nine blocks and fourteen offensive rebounds. They outscored the Eagles 36 to 22 in the paint. Fouls were a killer for BC in the second half, with Duke taking eighteen foul shots in the period. In a heart stopping moment for BC fans, Ky Bowman was hit hard attempting to take a charge from RJ Barrett and was slow to get up. After sitting down for a minute and getting treatment on his knee, Bowman was right back in the game to finish it out and appeared to be fine.
It wasn’t an unexpected outcome. This Duke team is loaded with top level talent (three of the top projected overall draft picks) and Cameron Indoor is never an easy place to pull off an upset. The Eagles hung tough for a half but were outmanned and folded under the Duke second half push. The Eagles will have a few days to lick their wounds before heading to Syracuse for a rematch with the Orange on Saturday afternoon. BC’s record falls to 11-10 with this loss.