Matthew Hurt scored as many points but Carlik Jones made the plays down the stretch to help Louisville beat Duke on Saturday.
Jones scored 24 points, including the Cardinals’ final nine points over the last two minutes, as Louisville edged the Blue Devils 70-65, in ACC basketball at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
“We lost to a good team,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team suffered its third consecutive loss, “and a kid in Jones who can really control the game, especially at the end of a game. Just a tough loss for us.”
Hurt, a sophomore forward, scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Duke (5-5, 3-3 ACC) before fouling out with 1:50 to play. Jones took over from there as Louisville halted its two-game losing streak.
After freshman guard DJ Steward put Duke in front 62-61 by making two free throws with 2:07 to play, Hurt fouled a driving Jones in the lane 17 seconds later. Jones’ two free throws put Louisville ahead 63-62.
Freshman forward Jalen Johnson’s basket in the lane with 1:30 to play gave Duke its final lead at 65-64. But Jones drove past Johnson to score with 1:18 to play and the Cardinals never trailed again.
Johnson turned the ball over when he was called for an offensive foul before Jones missed a jumper for Louisville.
Junior forward Joey Baker had a chance to put Duke ahead but his 3-pointer missed. Jones was fouled and hit two free throws with 25 seconds left giving the Cardinals a 68-65 lead.
“I feel so bad for Joey,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s worked so hard. You are down by one and he’s got the shot that he’s dreamed of and worked hard for and the thing is in and out. I feel bad for him. The basketball gods if they are good to him then we would have benefitted.”
Duke had two chances to tie, but sophomore forward Wendell Moore’s 3-pointer missed with 19 seconds left and Steward missed another with 11 seconds left.
“We missed two wide-open shots, good shots to tie the game,” Krzyzewski said.
Jones hit two free throws to close out the scoring for Louisville (10-3, 5-2 ACC).
Steward scored 13 points for Duke.
For Louisville, Jae’Lyn Withers scored 13 points, while David Johnson scored 12 and Dre Davis 11.
