ATLANTA -- Kon Knueppel scored 18 points, Cooper Flagg celebrated his 18th birthday by chipping in 13 and No. 5 Duke romped to an 82-56 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Blue Devils led by double figures much of the game and dominated the second half against the Yellow Jackets.
Even though the game was in Atlanta, it sounded more like Cameron Indoor Stadium with all the blue-clad Duke fans roaring for their team.
They certainly had plenty to cheer about. Knueppel led Duke's fabulous freshmen class, which also got 15 points from Khaman Maluach.
Baye Ndongo led Georgia Tech with 14 points.
The Blue Devils have dominated this series, winning for the 18th time in the last 20 meetings and improving to 67-21 since the Yellow Jackets joined the ACC.
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Second-year Georgia Tecj coach Damon Stoudamire is struggling just as much as his predecessors to restore the school's former basketball glory. His record dropped to 19-25 overall and 7-15 in the ACC.
Georgia Tech closed the first half on a 14-4 run, going to the locker room down only 41-36 after trailing by double figures for much of the opening period.
But Duke quickly reclaimed the upper hand after the break, starting with Maluach's thunderous dunk off a lob from Knueppel. The Blue Devils outscored Georgia Tech 41-20 in the second half.
Duke shredded the Georgia Tech defense, shooting 56.4% (31 of 55) from the field and hitting 10 of 25 beyond the arc.
North Carolina 76, California-Los Angeles 74
R.J. Davis made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 13 seconds left and North Carolina erased a 16-point deficit for a victory over No. 18 California-Los Angeles in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Davis scored 17 points and gave the Tar Heels their first lead since the opening minutes. Ian Jackson scored a career-high 24 points. Seth Trimble added 12 and forced a UCLA turnover that set up the free throws by Davis as North Carolina outscored UCLA 33-15 over the final 12-plus minutes and shot 46.8%.
Tyler Bilodeau tied a career high with 26 points but the Bruins had a nine-game winning streak stopped. Sebastian Mack added 22 for UCLA, which shot 49.1%.
The Tar Heels forged a 72-all tie with 1:32 left on a basket by Jalen Washington. After Bilodeau missed a 3, Mack hit two free throws for a 74-72 lead with 48 seconds left. Davis made one free throw to trim it to a point, and after Trimble forced a turnover on Dylan Andrews, Davis hit two more for a 75-74 edge.
The Tar Heels overcame a season high-tying 18 turnovers.
Bilodeau entered the game shooting 35.5% from 3 and made his first five attempts before his critical miss.
The Bruns led 59-45 when Bilodeau was forced to the bench with his fourth foul with 11:45 remaining. The Tar Heels went on a 20-9 run until Bilodeau returned with 5:15 left and trailed 68-65.
North Carolina withstood missing 11 of 35 free throws.
Clemson 73, Wake Forest 62
Chase Hunter had 16 points and Jake Heidbreder 15 as No. 25 Clemson bounced back from two straight losses to beat Wake Forest and start ACC play 2-0 for the second time in three seasons.
The Tigers had lost a pair of nonconference games in overtime to Memphis and South Carolina. But Clemson opened a double-digit lead in the first half and held off the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest trailed by 15 points in the first half, but cut the lead to 44-41 on Hunter Sallis' three-point play with 15:51 to play. The Tigers followed with a 19-6 burst the next eight minutes to extend the lead back to double digits.
Sallis finished with 26 points to lead Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons got strong efforts from Sallis and Cameron Hildreth who combined for 41 points on 17 of 26 shooting. The rest of the team managed 21 points on 8-of-24 shooting.
The Tigers showed their versatility and grit after two difficult defeats. Viktor Lakhin and Heidbreder carried the scoring load early until Hunter heated up with 12 of his points in the final 27 minutes.
Up three points early in the second half, Clemson went inside with a layup by Ian Schieffelin and a dunk by Lakhin to reestablish control.
Lakhin had a season-low 4 points earlier this week in an overtime loss at South Carolina. He responded his overall best game since transferring from Cincinnati with 13 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.
SUNDAY
North Carolina State 89, Rider 63
Jayden Taylor scored 16 points to lead North Carolina State to a romp over Rider.
Taylor made 5 of 7 shots with 3-pointers and 3 of 5 free throws for the Wolfpack, who improved to 8-1 at home.
Ben Middlebrooks and reserve Breon Pass added 12 points each for N.C. State. Marcus Hill pitched in with 11 points and six assists.
T.J. Weeks Jr. and Jay Alvarez each scored 17 to lead the Broncs.
Taylor had 11 points and Hill scored 10 as N.C. State shot 64.3% from the floor in the first half and led 52-23. Weeks had 12 points for Rider. The Broncs made just 9 of 32 shots, including 1 of 9 from beyond the arc, in falling behind by 29.
Eleven players scored for the Wolfpack in the second half.
For the game, N.C. State scored 18 points off 14 Rider turnovers and had a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint. N.C. State had only seven turnovers.
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