No. 9 Duke erases a 10-point first-half deficit to beat Southern Indiana 80-62 #Duke #erases #10point #firsthalf #deficit #beat #Southern #Indiana

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Ninth-ranked Duke didn’t have the defensive intensity or frankly the effort to match a pesky one-win opponent for much of Friday night’s first half. Coach Jon Scheyer saw more from his Blue Devils “in flashes” in the second half, yet also gave him plenty to highlight for improvement, too.

Kyle Filipowski had 21 points and 14 rebounds while Duke waited until the second half to push ahead for good in Friday night’s 80-62 win against Southern Indiana. Still, Duke ended this game with multiple starters playing to the horn against a team that had yet to beat a Division I opponent this year.

“I mean, nobody’s happy about this,” said Duke guard Jeremy Roach, who added 18 points. “The game should’ve been over in the first half. But give credit to Southern Indiana: they’re a great team and came in with house money and played their (butts) off.”

The Blue Devils (5-1), who fell behind by 10 points six times before halftime and trailed 35-31 at the break. But Duke closed the first half with better energy and aggression at both ends, then rode that wave to build its own double-digit lead and get what Scheyer called a “jolt” of energy by running out a trapping fullcourt pressure that forced two 10-second violations.

The Blue Devils trailed 32-22 with 5:02 left before going on a 25-5 run through 9 1/2 minutes. That included the first 11 points out of the break, including two 3-pointers from freshman Jared McCain and back-to-back two-hand flushes from Filipowski at the 15:34 mark.

That margin got no closer than nine again, with Duke shooting 60.7% after halftime.

Compare that to the first half, when the Screaming Eagles (1-6) kept scoring off the dribble or hitting contested shots — enough so that Scheyer burned a timeout midway through the first half, stood on the court and delivered a lengthy emphatic message to his players.

“We were giving up layups like crazy,” Scheyer said, adding: “I thought that showed where our heads were at, just giving layups in transition, letting guys get behind us. That’s not how we’ve played.”

Jeremiah Hernandez scored 15 points to lead Southern Indiana, which made 13 of 25 shots to open the game but shot 33% from there.

“If we play everybody the way we played tonight, we’re going to beat some people,” Southern Indiana coach Stan Gouard said.

BIG PICTURE

Southern Indiana: The Screaming Eagles had fallen by double-digit margins in four of five losses coming in. Their lone win had come against Division II Tiffin. But they hung around in this one into the final minutes.

Duke: The Blue Devils have now won four straight games since falling to now-No. 3 Arizona, including a win against Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Nov. 14.

CONTENTIOUS MOMENT

The game also featured a testy second-half moment between Duke’s Tyrese Proctor and Southern Indiana’s Javius Moore.

Moore hit Proctor around the head and shoulder from behind on Proctor’s cutting dunk with 6:29 left. Both players ended up on the floor before Proctor rose quickly to stand over Moore, then glared his way as the teams separated.

After a video review, officials ruled Moore’s hit was a flagrant-1 foul while also assessing a technical foul to Proctor.