Freshman Caleb Foster came off the bench to score 13 points and No. 9 Duke was in control most of the way in defeating visiting Notre Dame 71-53 on Wednesday night in Durham, N.C.
Mark Mitchell also finished with 13 points and added 10 rebounds and two steals, Jared McCain chipped in 11 points and Tyrese Proctor nine for Duke (17-5, 8-3 ACC), which sits third in the league.
The Blue Devils came out full of energy just four nights after falling at rival North Carolina in a Top 10 showdown. Duke’s defense did the job after halftime, holding the Irish to 16 points across the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Duke gradually built its lead to 18 points with more than eight minutes to play. With three minutes left, Foster was still the only Duke player with a double-figure point total.
Markus Burton notched 19 points and Braeden Shrewsberry had 13 points for Notre Dame (7-16, 2-10), which lost its seventh game in a row and shot just 33.9 percent from the field.
Duke was only 4-for-18 on 3-pointers, but Notre Dame wasn’t much better at 7-for-27. Burton and Shrewsberry both made three from deep.
Duke went to halftime with a 33-25 lead, though that margin seemed slim considering Notre Dame’s 31 percent shooting to that point. Duke led by as many as 15 points in the half, and Foster had nine points.
Duke’s Kyle Filipowski didn’t score in the first half, but he had five points in slightly more than five minutes to begin the second half. He ended up with eight points and nine rebounds.
Early in the game, Duke went on a 17-0 run to go up 20-5. Notre Dame endured 8 1/2 minutes without scoring, with at one point having totals of six turnovers and three field goals.
Duke also defeated Notre Dame last month, winning 67-59 in South Bend, Ind.
–Field Level Media
