Defense keys overtime win over Hokies

Tyler Thornton's defense helped the devils escape an overtime loss Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the Hokies.
Tyler Thornton's defense helped the devils escape an overtime loss Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the Hokies.

Virginia Tech found the answer to Duke’s recent red-hot shooting from beyond the arc, but Tyler Thornton and the Blue Devils matched the Hokies’ defensive efforts to escape with an overtime victory.

Despite shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range, Duke, fueled by Thornton’s stymieing defense, battled out a 70-65 win over Virginia Tech (15-14, 4-10 in the ACC) Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Coming off a 74-66 road victory over Florida State just two nights earlier in which they made 46-percent of their 3-pointers, the No. 5 Blue Devils (25-4, 12-2) came out firing from long range, knocking down two in the first three minutes. Due to the Hokies’ tight perimeter defense, however, Duke went just one of eight for the rest of the period.

“They were doing a good job defensively on us,” Seth Curry said. “We weren’t really getting too many outside shots.”

To make up for the poor perimeter shooting, the Blue Devil defense kept the team in the game. Assigned to guard Erick Green—who had reached double figures in 29 consecutive games entering Saturday—Thornton rose to the challenge, holding him scoreless through the end of the first period.

“[Tyler] won’t show up stat wise, but just attitude wise, toughness wise, just what he was saying in huddles, on the court understanding game situations and encouraging his teammates,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It was like a ‘Wojo’ type of performance.”

Duke entered the break up 26-24 thanks to its defense, as well as nine first-half points from Austin Rivers.

Upon returning to the court, Seth Curry provided a spark for the Blue Devils, scoring their first four points and then grabbing the team’s first steal of the game at the 9:14 mark, which he finished with a fast-break layup to put Duke up six. Curry finished the game with 19 points, 15 of which came in the second period.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Curry said. “We needed to make a stretch to get a lead back. We tried to get some energy in our team, and I did that. I got some steals and was able to attack the rim and get some layups.”

Green scored 14 second-half points of his own to keep Virginia Tech in the game. Then with 1:26 remaining, Dorenzo Hudson banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing to put the Hokies up three points, their largest lead of the contest.

Curry tried to tie it on the other end with a 3-pointer of his own, but missed long. There for the offensive rebound, though, was Mason Plumlee. Following another missed 3-point attempt, this one by Thornton, Plumlee grabbed another board and scored a put-back to bring the deficit down to one. The Plumlee brothers combined for 24 rebounds, led by Miles’ 15.

“He is naturally a good rebounder,” Krzyzewski said. “I think in the last month he has become an exceptional rebounder. These last two games, boy, he has played as well as any big guy in our conference.”

Then with 40 seconds to play, Thornton forced Green into a travel near midcourt, giving Duke a chance to take the lead. Rivers, guarded tightly beyond the perimeter, drove into the lane and drew a foul on Green, earning two shots with Virginia Tech in the double bonus.

“They didn’t really leave their shooters a lot, and at the end I just kept going to the rack,” Rivers said. “I was kind of like a little battering ram down there, just getting beat up.”

Just as in the home game against Miami earlier this season, Rivers had a chance to take the lead in the final 30 seconds from the free throw line, but made just one of two, tying the game at 58.

Thornton came up with another stop on the Hokies’ final possession, though, tracking Green into the lane and forcing a shot that clanked off the far side of the backboard. Following a missed put-back attempt by Cadarian Raines, Mason Plumlee swatted the ball away as the clock expired.

“Tyler really epitomized the grit that we had as a basketball team today,” Krzyzewski said. “There is no way our team wins without Tyler today. That kid just played too darn hard.”

Returning for overtime, the Blue Devils went straight back to what had kept them in the game down the stretch—penetrating the lane on offense and forcing bad shots on defense. Following Miles Plumlee’s first field goal of the game, Rivers and Curry went back to attacking the lane and led Duke to a 63-60 lead with 1:33 remaining.

“At the end of the game, we didn’t do a good enough job of keeping Rivers out of the lane,” Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said.

Nevertheless, Rivers made just 3-of-6 from the charity stripe in the extra period.

Mason knocked down one of two free throws and Miles hit two of two from the line to extend Duke’s lead to 68-63 with nine seconds remaining, and the Blue Devils held on for the victory.

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