GREENVILLE, S.C. — Duke barely avoided a shocking upset to open the NCAA tournament, with the No. 1 overall seed having to rally from 13 points down and going ahead for good in the final 5 minutes to beat 16th-seeded Siena 71-65 on Thursday.
Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the East Region’s headliner, which hit its first four shots yet need a comeback against a fearless upstart playing just five players right up to the final seconds.
And yet, the Saints took it to the Blue Devils (33-2) at every turn.
The No. 1 seeds entered the week with a 158-2 record against 16 seeds in the tournament, the outliers being Virginia’s loss to UMBC in 2018 and Purdue’s loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023.
And Duke — a blueblood with five NCAA titles — spent much of Thursday in serious danger of being added to that list before finally wrestling away control of the game in the last 8 minutes.
Gavin Doty scored 21 points to lead the Saints (23-12), with his third 3 giving Siena a 61-56 lead with 7:53 left. But Duke ran off 11 unanswered points to finally push ahead for good.
Duke, which closed as a 28.5-point favorite, trailed by 11 at the half and became the first-ever No. 1 seed to trail by double digits at the break against a 16 seed.
Information from The Associated Press was used in the report.
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