Patrick Ngongba scored a career-high 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds as No. 5 Duke breezed to a 100-42 victory over Niagara, Friday in Durham, N.C.
Cameron Boozer tallied 14 points and Isaiah Evans contributed a rare four-point play on his way to scoring 12 points as the Blue Devils (6-0) used a balanced attack to continue their perfect start.
Duke’s 3-point snipers were on target. Nikolas Khamenia, who delivered a career-high 12 points to go along with his five assists, made 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, Cayden Boozer (11 points) and Caleb Foster (10 points) each made 3 of 4 from distance as the Blue Devils shot 58.2% overall and made 17 of 31 (51.5%) attempts from deep.
Trenton Walters hit 5 of 10 shots from 3-point range to account for all 15 of his points to lead Niagara (2-3) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The Purple Eagles committed 17 turnovers and were outrebounded 40-20. They made 27.1% of their shots and were 7 of 29 (21.4%) from 3-point range.
The game pitted Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer against his former backcourt mate at Duke, Greg Paulus, who is in his seventh season with Niagara.
The first-ever matchup of the teams is part of Duke’s Brotherhood Run, which pits the Blue Devils against teams coached by former players from the program.
Duke dominated from the start as Foster hit a 3-pointer on the game’s first possession to give the Blue Devils a lead they would not relinquish.
Cayden Boozer made a triple and Darren Harris added another, plus two free throws to finish a 10-point run as Duke took a 15-3 lead 5:04 into the game.
Dunks 25 seconds apart by Maliq Brown and Cameron Boozer brought the Blue Devils’ fans to their feet as Duke stretched its lead to 26-8.
Even with its reserves on the floor, Duke continued to stretch its advantage. Khamenia’s trey with 26 seconds left hit the century mark for the Blue Devils and provided their largest lead of the night.
On Sunday, Duke will play Howard in another Brotherhood Run game. The Bison are coached by Duke alum Kenny Blakeney.
Howard faces Niagara in the weekend round robin on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
