Sports

Duke Gets Hot to Drop Pitt in ACC Tournament

Lawrence Davis III @LawDavis13 @SpecMagSports

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Duke center Kyle Filipowski overcame an early ankle injury to score 22 points, Tyrese Proctor added 11 points and 10 assists, and the No. 21 Duke Blue Devils cruised to a 96-69 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers on Thursday afternoon  in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

Dereck Lively II had 13 points and Mark Mitchell added 12 for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils, who shot a season-high 62% from the floor and built a 48-32 halftime lead en route to their seventh straight win. It’s the longest active streak of any ACC team.

Nike Sibande had 17 points and Guillermo Diaz Graham had 14 for Pitt (22-11).

Duke’s recent formula for success has been focused on defense and rebounding, but its offense took a big step forward in the first half, when the Blue Devils made 13 3-pointers and posted a season-high for points scored.

Duke (24-8) moves on to face top-seeded and 14th-ranked Miami in Friday’s semifinals.

Fourth-seeded Duke advances to face top-seed Miami (25-6) in Friday night’s 7 p.m. semifinal game. The teams split a pair of regular-season meetings with the Blue Devils winning 68-66 at home on Jan. 21 and the Hurricanes by an 81-59 score in Coral Gables on Feb. 6.

Friday night’s game will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal game in Brooklyn, in which then-top-seeded Duke defeated the fourth-seeded Hurricanes, 80-76.