In a revenge game, the No. 9 North Carolina men’s basketball team lost a double-digit lead in the second half to fall to No. 5 Duke 74-64.
Through the first half, neither team played their best basketball, but it was the Tar Heels who held a lead.
After five lead changes and five ties in the first 20 minutes, the Blue Devils shot 31.3 percent from the field and the Tar Heels, not much better, were just ahead at 38.2 percent.
The Tar Heels entered halftime with a 10-point lead over Duke — and held Marvin Bagley III, Duke’s leading scorer, to just three points. Senior guard Grayson Allen led the Blue Devils with seven points, while Cameron Johnson, who had a memorable performance during his first Duke game as a Tar Heel, led the Tar Heels with 10 points of his own.
As is the case with most games in the rivalry, though, the second half proved to be most important.
UNC built itself a 13-point lead early in the second half, but that all quickly went away once Bagley started to get hot. By the time the game reached the final 10 minutes, Duke went on a 9-0 run to retake the lead for the first time since 6:36 in the first half.
They wouldn't let go of the advantage the rest of the way.
The last few moments of the game were a back-and-forth affair. North Carolina tried to come back, but by the last 3:30, the Blue Devils took an eight-point lead that wouldn't be caught. Cameron Johnson scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers in the loss, while Luke Maye and Kenny Williams added 13 points each.
Bagley's 18 second-half points were too much to overcome in the end. At game's end, the Blue Devils led every category including rebounds, field goal percentage, free throws attempted, while giving up less turnovers and personal fouls.
