Patrick Ngongba had 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and five blocks to lead No. 2 Duke to a 90-47 rout of visiting SIU-Edwardsville on Friday night in Durham, N.C.
Six players scored in double figures for the Blue Devils (3-1). Caleb Foster and Dame Sarr each scored 12 points, while Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Sebastian Wilkins and Cayden Boozer each tallied 11 points. Boozer recorded a double-double as he also pulled down a career-best 10 rebounds. He dished out four assists as well.
Boozer’s performance marked the second double-double of the 6-foot-4 sophomore’s career, but the first with double-digit points and rebounds.
Gianni Cobb paced SIU-Edwardsville (2-3) with nine points.
Duke led nearly wire-to-wire. After the teams traded baskets in the first two minutes, the Blue Devils went on 23-4 run to put a safe distance between themselves and the Cougars. Foster capped the surge with a corner 3-pointer in front of the Cougars’ bench off a feed from Ngongba.
The Blue Devils’ lead grew to 43-15 on two free throws by Boozer with 43 seconds left in the half. SIU Edwardsville had more turnovers (11) than field goals (eight) in the half and shot 0 of 7 from 3-point range. The Cougars finished the game shooting 3 of 22 from behind the arc. Duke made 9 of 29 from deep (31%).
Late in the second half, Duke went on an 18-2 run to push its lead to 88-45 with 2:25 to play. The stretch was highlighted by Maxime Meyer’s alley-oop dunk off a pass from Deron Rippey Jr.
The Blue Devils outrebounded the Cougars 51-33 and scored 20 points off 19 Edwardsville turnovers. Duke also had a 42-24 scoring advantage in the paint.
Duke will face a much tougher opponent in its next game as it hosts No. 3 Illinois on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
