Barclays Center was getting loud, drowning out the strong Duke contingent💦.
Vermont, the 13th seed, had pulled within two.
An upset seemed possible.
Then, Jared McCain refused to let it happen.
He sank a momentum-shift꧂ing 3-pointer, then scored on a medium-range jumper.
Soon, the lead was back to nine.
Fourth-seeded Duke would prevai💫l, 64-47, in an NCAA Tournament, opening-round game in Brooklyn, running away from the underdog late.
“The beginning of the second half the🍃y made a great run. I thought our response is what I’m really proud of,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Literally I could go down the line with each of these guys that stepped up and made big shots, big rebounds. But really big defensive stops, to hold them to 47 points.”
McCain was a big part of ꦅthe Duke (25-8) win, scoring 15 points along with s𒐪ix rebounds and three assists.
Only a freshman, the bright lights ofꦑ the dance didn’t f🍬aze him.
The highly-regarded five-star recruit came through, as he has through mo🌸st of a solid first season of college basketball.
His shaky pe💫rformance in an ACC Tournament loss to N.C. State didn’t stick with him.
“I’m not surprised by what he did,🐻” Scheyer said. “Jared, he’s built differently. He’s made for these moments, in my opinion.”
On a night star big man Kyle Filipowski was qui๊et offensively, managing just three points and attempting only a single shot, his teammates had his back.
Mark Mitchell scored 15 points✤, Jeremy Roach followed with 14 and Tyrese Proctor ha💮d 13.
The Blue Devils’ defe𒅌nse came up✃ particularly big.
They limited Vermont (28-7) to just 18 points over the final 20 minutes and 38.5 shootingಌ overall.
Leading scorer TJ Long missed seven of hi𓆏s eight shots from the field, and the Catamounts had as many assists (12) as turnovers (12).
Aided by Filipowski’s 12 rebounds, Duke won the💙 battle on the glass by 12.
“We just tried not to panic, went back to the huddle and fixed some things in our communication and tried to lock in and dig down deep and get stops,” Mi🌟tchell said.
“That’s what we talked about 𓆏the last week when we get in these tight moments to [dig] deeper, get stops and we did th🎉at.”
