No. 2 Duke used a 29-8 run in the second half to overcome a seven-point deficit and beat UNC 82-69 at the Smith Center Saturday night. The loss spoiled Senior Night for R.J. Davis, Jae’Lyn Withers and Ty Claude.

The Tar Heels led early in the second half on the back of Davis, who scored 20 points (15 in the first half) in his final home game. But Davis didn’t score a point for the final 17:43 as the Blue Devils seized control. The fifth-year senior guard sat for a brief period in the half due to what he described as cramps, during which time Duke began its comeback.

“I wanted to give him a break, and he needed one,” head coach Hubert Davis said after the game. “I thought that was a key stretch.”

“It was hot in there,” R.J. Davis said. “I was using a lot of energy, so I pulled myself out to take a little breather.”

The Blue Devils’ run put the game out of reach by the final minutes as UNC’s offense fizzled. In the final 12:48, the Tar Heels managed just four made shots and no free throw attempts.

That UNC led for any amount of time was impressive in itself, as the Blue Devils led by as many as 15 points in the first half. But Carolina made its move thanks for several buckets from Davis, who scored the team’s final seven points of the first half to close the gap to 43-42 at halftime. The Tar Heels kept the momentum going early in the second half and led 59-53 with 12:48 remaining before finally running out of gas.

“Shots were falling. My adrenaline, my confidence was up,” Davis said. “Everything felt like it couldn’t go wrong.”

Unfortunately for Davis, he missed his final five shot attempts after returning from the bench. As a team, UNC missed 22 of its final 27 shots in the game’s final 15 minutes.

Ven-Allen Lubin added 11 points, but no other Tar Heel reached double figures. On the other side, four Blue Devils reached double figures: Kon Knueppel led the way with 17 points, Tyrese Proctor and Sion James scored 16 and Cooper Flagg added 15. Duke shot 17-28 (60.7 percent) in the second half and 31-55 (56.4 percent) for the game. The Blue Devils also controlled the glass, outrebounding UNC 39-26. No Tar Heel had more than six rebounds.

UNC ends the regular season with a 20-12 overall record and a 13-7 record in ACC play. The Tar Heels will return to the court in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament next week, where they will be the No. 5 seed. They will play either No. 12 seed Notre Dame or No. 13 seed Pittsburgh in the tournament’s second round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. The full tournament bracket can be found here.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.

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