Four Duke Blue Devil players scored in double figures and were able to hold off a feisty Campbell Camels team 67-56 on Saturday night.
Freshman forward Paolo Banchero, who has been a monster in his first two games, was more of the same on Saturday, leading the Blue Devils with 18 points on 7-of-11 from the field, along with seven rebounds, a steal and a rejection.
The Blue Devils were shaken when their captain and leader Wendell Moore Jr. left the court just 15 seconds into the contest with what looked to be a knee injury. While Moore was in the locker room getting examined, Campbell (2-1), established a 10-point lead in the early going of the game.
Then Duke received the best news they could hope for. Moore returned to the game with 13.02 remaining in the first half. Duke went on a 25-11 run to close the first twenty minutes of action with a four point advantage, 33-29. During that stretch, Moore had eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, two steals and a board.
Moore had another complete game with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. All of this occurred just one night after Moore recorded the Blue Devils fifth triple-double in the school’s history.
“I knew I was ready to play right away, as long as I knew I could walk,” Moore said. “I’ve learned a lot about this team. I think the most is — how much fight is in our guys. Our guys came prepared for every game. That’s uncommon to do.”
Even with Moore back in the lineup, Campbell never laid down or gave up, as Duke was pushed to their limit. However, after making 6 of 15 shots from distance in the first half, the Camels did not connect on any of their 3-point shots in the second half. Duke was ranked 284th in the country in 3-point defense last season, allowing opponents to shoot 36% from deep. Campbell shot an ice cold 26% from beyond the arc.
Duke went on to defeat Campbell in an ugly game, 67-56. The victory was the 1,100 win in the distinguished coaching career of Coach K at Duke.
“That was really a good basketball game. (Campbell) is a really well-coached disciplined team. That can be a first round NCAA (Tournament) game tonight,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We had a lot of adversity with Wendell getting hurt on the first play. I thought it scared us. It knocked us back. And then (Campbell) scared us with how well they played. And then we collected ourselves,” Krzyzewski said. “I thought in the last 32 minutes of the game, we played great defense.”
The Camels were selected to win their division in the Big South. After going back and forth with Duke for the majority of the game, Campbell appears to be ready to live up to their preseason billing.
“We’re a really good program at this point, and I’m kind of at the point where the consolation loss is not as exciting. To me, it stings, pretty hard,” Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan said. “But I thought we played well enough to give them a basketball game. And I’ve seen a lot that don’t look like that here, so I think there’s something to be said for that.”
Sophomore guard Jeremy Roach is getting comfortable in his role on the team, as he had another efficient shooting night, with 14 points, shooting 60% from the floor for Duke. Senior Joey Baker had his best game of the season so far with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, all from 3-point range, in 32 minutes of playing time.
7-foot center Mark Williams, who did not get the start, only logged six minutes of action. He played an average of 20 minutes in Dukes first two contest against Kentucky and Army. He and forward Theo John continue to have their problems inside.
Ricky Clemons and Cedric Henderson Jr. each scored 18 points apiece for the Camels. Henderson also had 11 rebounds, helping Campbell out board Duke 34-31. Forward Jesus Carralero also contributed 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
Campbell play at Marshall on Thursday. In their third of five straight home games, Duke hosts Gardner-Webb on Tuesday.
