By Joel Perez-
The Boston College Eagles (9-8) faced off against the Duke University Blue Devils (15-2) at Silvio O. Conte Forum Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA on Saturday night. The Eagles looked to snap their three game losing streak, but fall short as the Blue Devils topped over, with a final score of 88-63.
On the other side of the ball, the Blue Devils were led by Cooper Flagg, a New England native who is now being projected to be the number one pick in the 2025 NBA draft. The Blue Devils entered this game on a 11 game win streak with their last loss being against the Kansas Jayhawks, dating back to November 26th, 2024.
With the first half coming to an end, the score was 40-34 with the visiting team Blue Devils being up. Leading scorer for the Eagles Donald Hand Jr could not find his rhythm, struggling from the field shooting 25%. It would have to be center Chad Venning showing up for his team, Venning collected nine points while shooting 75% from the field.
As for the Blue Devils, Flagg would start off very slow, shooting a poor one for six from the field, but as the half continued he found his flow, finishing the first half with 15 points and shooting 100% from the free throw line, Tyrese Proctor would also chip in with 10 points shooting 66% from the field.
After the end of the second half, Hand Jr continued to struggle as he finished the game with nine points shooting 27% from the field, as for Venning he would finish with 19 points in an attempt to keep the Eagles in the game, but it was not enough.
As for the Blue devils, they would erupt as a team in the second half, adding 40 points alone in the second half to top off this game with a dominant ending. Flagg would finish with 28 points, shooting 64% from the field, to compliment this performance Proctor would chip in with 20 points of his own shooting 58% from the field, off the bench Isaiah Evans would come alive in the second half, Evans would finish the game with 14 points sinking in four three pointers to seal the win.
After the game I got to speak to Flagg, asking him did he feel any pressure returning back and playing in his home region of New England, he answered saying “I wouldn’t say pressure, to me it’s more of just a blessing to be able and come out and see a lot of familiar faces… just gave me more confidence if anything”
The Eagles now fall to a 9-9 record with this now being their fourth consecutive loss. Their next game will be away where they will take on The Virginia State Cavaliers on January 21st, 2025 at 7PM.
For the Blue Devils, this will now extend their impressive win streak to 12 games in a row, the Blue Devils will take a trip back to North Carolina where they will look to face off against the Wake Forest Demon Deacon on January 25th, 2025 at 4:30 PM.
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