Isaiah Evans had eight of his 17 points in a late first-half surge, Cameron Boozer saved 17 of his game-high 21 points for the second half and No. 6 Duke pulled away from Cal for an 71-56 Atlantic Coast Conference victory Wednesday night in Berkeley, Calif.
Boozer also snatched a game-high 13 rebounds to complete his eighth double-double for Duke (16-1, 5-0), which was making its first-ever visit to Berkeley.
Lee Dort had 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds for Cal (13-5, 1-4), which lost its third straight.
Playing before its biggest home crowd of the season, Cal led by six on four occasions in the first half, the final time at 30-24 after a John Camden 3-pointer at the 3:35 mark.
But Evans dominated the rest of the half, drilling a pair of 3-pointers to sandwich a spinning dunk in a 13-0 flurry that opened a 37-30 halftime advantage.
The Golden Bears drew even one final time at 41-all on two free throws by Justin Pippen with 15:03 remaining, but led by Boozer, the Blue Devils overpowered the hosts the rest of the way.
Cal was hanging around at 48-45 at the 11:47 mark, but Boozer contributed four layups, two dunks and a free throw to a 20-6 push that opened a 17-point lead.
Boozer finished 9 of 16 for the Blue Devils, who outshot Cal 45.2% to 36.5% and outrebounded the hosts 44-30.
With Evans going 4 of 13 from deep, Duke made only seven of its 32 3-point attempts. But that was two more than the Golden Bears managed in 23 attempts.
Evans found time for three blocks, while Patrick Ngongba aided the Duke cause with eight points and six rebounds.
Camden had 11 points and Pippen 10 points and five steals for Cal, which fought foul trouble through most of the second half. Camden fouled out of the game.
Cal’s Pippen and Dai Dai Ames matched Duke’s Boozer, Caleb Foster and Maliq Brown for game-high assist honors with three each.
–Field Level Media
