Freshman Jared McCain scored 14 of his season-high 21 points in the first half and No. 22 Duke solved some of its recent woes, drilling visiting Charlotte 80-56 to snap a two-game losing streak Saturday afternoon at Durham, N.C.
Jeremy Roach’s 18 points, reserve Jaylen Blakes’ 15 and Mark Mitchell’s 12 gave a boost to the Blue Devils (6-3). McCain, Roach and Blakes all made three 3-point shots.
Lu’Cye Patterson had 14 points and Nik Graves posted all 10 of his points in the second half for Charlotte (5-4), which made only four of 20 shots from 3-point range.
Duke, which hadn’t won since Nov. 24, was without starting point guard Tyrese Proctor, who suffered an ankle injury near the beginning of a loss a week earlier at Georgia Tech.
The Blue Devils held a double-digit rebounding edge, highlighted by Kyle Filipowski’s 13 boards. But the preseason All-American scored just five points on 2-for-10 shooting from the field.
Charlotte chopped what had been a 25-point deficit to 55-44 with about 14 minutes left. But by the time the 49ers broke an eight-minute span without a field goal, Duke had built a lead to 71-51.
Charlotte got only 11 points from its reserves. Both teams committed 11 turnovers.
The Blue Devils shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half and held a 45-27 lead at the break. Charlotte was 1-for-9 on 3s until Patterson sank one on the last shot of the half. Duke had a 15-2 advantage in fast break points.
Roach and Blakes hit 3s to cap Duke’s 8-0 run that created a 22-11 edge. The margin grew to 40-17.
Duke was up 36-17 with 5:19 remaining when a fan fell ill near courtside across from the Charlotte bench and there was a brief delay before the spectator was wheeled off in a chair surrounded by medical personnel.
The teams met for the first time since November 2009. Duke has won all four meetings.
–Field Level Media