Duke Raises Their ACC Tournament Titles to 22

Article by Dan Tortora

The rematch of the game that ended with a questionable call felt like a home game for the Duke Blue Devils.

Call it Cameron Indoor-adjacent.

It is not that there was not orange in the building.

But rather than the orange in the Greensboro Coliseum looked like buoys in a sea of Duke blue water.

The Duke Blue Devils were seekng their 22nd Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament Championship, while the Virginia Cavaliers were targeting their fourth all-time.

Duke never trailed for the entire first half, raising their lead to as many as 11 points, 22-11, with 2:23 remaining before the end of the period.

Virginia, however, would end the opening half on a 6-2 run, with four of those points coming at the charity stripe, bringing their deficit to seven, 24-17.

Both teams scored on their opening possessions of the second half, freshman center Kyle Filipowski on a layup for the Blue Devils, followed by a three for the Cavaliers from senior guard Armaan Franklin to make it a two-posession game, 26-20 Blue Devils.

Freshman guard Tyrese Proctor elevated Duke back to a double-digit lead, 33-22, as a result of his 2-for-2 trip to the charity stripe with 15:12 to play.

Filipowski would bring them back to a double-figure advantage at 38-27 on his layup with 9:19 remaining.

Freshman guard Isaac McKneely would connect on a corner three to shrink the Cavaliers' deficit back to two possessions, but Proctor would answer right back with his own three from the corner and Filipowski would steal the ball from Franklin, taking it to the rim for a slam that would raise the Blue Devils ahead to double-digits again, 43-32, at the 7:30 mark.

Another three by McKneely would move Virginia back within six points, 49-43, with 3:05 left on the game clock.

With just over a minute to go, Cavaliers graduate guard Kihei Clark stayed with the ball, preventing a turnover, and took it inside with his left hand, going off the glass to make it 52-47 Blue Devils.

A questionable call would happen with 52.5 seconds remaining. Freshman guard Ryan Dunn seemed to be contacted by the baseline before the ball went out off of his hands. No foul was called and Duke received the ball.

Filipowski would be fouled on the ensuing possession, making one of two to send the Blue Devils ahead 53-47.

Junior guard Reece Beekman would attack inside, connecting on his layup to get the Cavaliers within four, 53-49.

But Duke, as they did all night, came back wtih an answer, going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe to close out a game where they never played from behind for the entire 40 minutes. Junior guard Jeremy Roach made the first four and freshman forward Mark Mitchell got the final two as the Blue Devils hoisted their 22nd ACC Tournament Championship trophy in a 59-49 win.