CHARLOTTE – Isaiah Evans scored 20 points and No. 1 Duke relied on various sources to beat No. 10 Virginia 74-70 and repeat as Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion in a tense title game Saturday night.
Cayden Boozer, the twin brother of the ACC Player of the Year, matched his career high with 16 points for the second straight night and Cameron Boozer had 13 points for Duke (32-2), which could be the No. 1 overall seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket is unveiled Sunday.
It’s the first time a team has won consecutive ACC tournaments since the Blue Devils won three straight from 2009-11.
Cameron Boozer was bothered by Virginia’s defense, shooting 3-for-17 from the field, but he had eight rebounds and eight assists. The top-seeded Blue Devils received nine points and six boards from Nikolas Khamenia off the bench and nine points from Dame Sarr.
Malik Thomas poured in 18 points and Sam Lewis racked up 17 points for second-seeded Virginia (29-5), which was aiming for its first conference tournament title since 2018. Ugonna Onyenso blocked nine shots as part of a record-setting three-game stretch.
The championship game was much tighter than Duke’s 77-51 home victory when the teams met two weeks earlier.
Lewis hit two of Virginia’s three made 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half as the Cavaliers went up 49-45.
The teams continued to trade blows, with Lewis’ 3-pointer bringing the Cavaliers even at 58-58 with 8:14 left.
Cameron Boozer had five straight points as Duke pulled ahead at 63-60. Thomas’ three-point play tied it.
Later, Cayden Boozer’s bucket off a rebound put Duke up 68-66 before a Virginia shot-clock violation at the 2:18 mark. Evans hit both ends of a 1-and-1 before Onyenso’s putback. Cameron Boozer missed two free throws on the ensuing Duke possession.
Virginia’s Thomas misfired on the front end of a 1-and-1 with 51 seconds left. Cameron Boozer rebounded his own missed shot, setting up Evans for two free throws with 12.3 seconds remaining.
After a quick Thomas basket, Cameron Boozer drained two foul shots with 3.9 seconds to play to seal it.
Both teams finished with eight made 3-point baskets.
Onyenso had a series of blocked shots as Duke found it difficult to score in the lane. Seven of his championship-game-record nine rejections came with more than 12 minutes remaining.
Despite 50% shooting from the floor, Duke’s halftime lead was only 38-36 after the Blue Devils had their largest lead of the half at 36-29. Cayden Boozer had 14 points.
Onyenso blocked a tournament-record 21 shots in three games, eclipsing the mark set 31 years ago by Tim Duncan of Wake Forest.
— Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
