Charlotte-Duke lost Cooper flag to a left ankle injury during the first half, then gathered behind the beginner Kon Knueppel to defeat Georgia Tech, 78-70, in the ACC tournament quarter on Thursday.
Knueppel received a career high 28 points with eight assists and five returns in 39 minutes to drive Duke to a 29th victory, and gathered the blue devils from a 14-point deficit during the first half without his beginner co-star. Flag scored two points and left the match before half time after injuring his left ankle while collecting a defensive recovery.
Freshmen filled the point with flag. Isaiah Evans and Khaman Maluach both received 14 points for Duke (29-3), which meets either Fifth-seeded North Carolina or fourth Seeded Wake Forest in Friday night’s first semi-final game.
Flag, the potential No. 1 election in the NBA draft that was named this year’s ACC player and the ACC beginner earlier this week, was 1-for-7 from the field before leaving not long after blue devils forward Maliq Brown returned his left shoulder. Brown didn’t come back.
Duncan Powell’s 24 points and Baye Ndongo’s 15 points led the eighth-seeded Georgia Tech (17-16), who shot 42.8 percent from the field. Lance Terry added 12 points.
Duke dragged by five at half time, its biggest deficit at the break this season, but got the first 12 points in the second half. When Jaeden Mustaf made in a car ride, more than five minutes had gone by half.
Duke produced a 19-2 driving that stretched over the two halves.
But Georgia Tech regrouped. The yellow jackets closed the gap to 43-40 before another Duke Brast which included 3-points from Knueppel and Evans that created a lead of 54-43 at timeout under 8.
The other offensive misery of the yellow jackets resembled Duke’s problems during the first half. Georgia Tech succeeded only 13 points during the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Blue Devils finished 7-for-30 on 3-points, with Evans who made four.
Duke beat 26-12 and started the game 0-for-13 on 3-point attempts. Evans met a couple of 3 late half to close the gap to 31-26 at the break.
With Brown Out and Maluach, the Start Center, in Foul Purple, Blue Devils got a boost from the bench from Patrick Ngongba II. Ndongo had 11 points in the first half, while no Duke player had more than six.
Duke beat Georgia Tech for the second time this season, although the other came before Christmas in Atlanta and without drama that developed Thursday.
-Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
