Grizzly bears can run up to 35 miles per hour. And though Cal kept pace with the Blue Devils for the majority of Wednesday night’s West Coast clash, it was Duke who emerged from a game of distinct runs with a 71-56 win.
Halftime couldn’t have come at a worse moment for Duke. All momentum the Blue Devils built with a late first-half run vanished through the first four minutes of the second period, with their first eight 3-point attempts missing their mark. Cal, on the other hand, forced seven turnovers and drew six team fouls through the first six minutes, climbing back into the contest to tie the game at 41. Duke didn’t let the Golden Bears get back in front, though, but it didn’t pull away, either. Both teams committed several fouls early, but the Blue Devils failed to capitalize, making just three of their first eight second-half shots from the stripe. Cal went 7-for-9 in that stretch, but Duke’s ability to contain junior Dai Dai Ames prevented the Golden Bears from taking the lead. The Chicago native committed his fourth foul and was sent to the bench, giving the Blue Devils some breathing room up 56-48.
Nikolas Khamenia finished a layup through contact and converted the free throw to extend Duke’s lead to six. The Studio City, Calif., native scored again on the next possession, and a slam from Cameron Boozer forced a timeout by Cal head coach Mark Madsen to stop a 10-2 run.
It was no use.
A John Camden 3-pointer was all the Golden Bears could initially muster, as layups by Caleb Foster and Cameron Boozer extended Duke’s lead to 66-51 with 5:55 remaining. Camden, Cal’s second-leading scorer on the night, fouled out at the 3:26 mark, and a triple from Khamenia sent the Blue Devils into the final two minutes with a 19-point lead. “We just stayed solid,” sophomore guard Isaiah Evans said. “We tried not to put them on the foul line. They’re excellent free-throw shooters, and then we took our time on offense and got the shots we wanted.” Cameron Boozer checked out with 66 seconds left; the freshman forward finished with his eighth double-double of the season. Evans added 17 points, Khamenia scored 10 for the first time in conference play and Cam Sheffield saw the floor to close out Duke’s fifth conference win. After several slow starts with varying lineups, head coach Jon Scheyer returned to early-season form with Dame Sarr and Patrick Ngongba II getting the first minutes over Cayden Boozer and Maliq Brown, respectively.
“I think [effective defense] was just a team effort of buying into playing harder, having more attention to detail,” Cameron Boozer said. “To start the year, we were one of the best teams in the country for effective field goal percentage on defense. We’ve just got to get back to that.”Cal (13-5, 1-4 in the ACC) stayed out in front early, with both teams struggling to convert from three. Senior guard Lee Dort led the way with strong play in the paint, and Duke (16-1, 5-0) attempted to settle in on both ends of the court. After three early misses from deep, Evans converted from behind the arc to cut the Golden Bears’ lead to 13-12 after seven minutes of play.
The host’s defense continued to do its job until Foster — perhaps paying homage to NBA legend Stephen Curry, who was in attendance — buried a triple to give Duke its first advantage of the night with 8:42 remaining. But Cal hung tough and immediately reclaimed the lead with a 12-2 run: a pair of wide-open backdoor dunks forced Scheyer to call timeout with his team down 27-21.
Sarr stopped the bleeding with a three, and Camden answered on the other end. But from there, the Blue Devils found their footing. Ngongba knocked down two free throws and Khamenia scored a nice jumper. Evans exploded with a furious dunk and two more 3-pointers as Duke pushed the pace; a 16-3 run propelled the team back in front and into the locker room with a 37-30 lead.
The second installment of the Blue Devils’ West Coast road trip is set for Saturday, with Duke tipping off against Stanford at 6 p.m. inside Maples Pavilion.
