Duke Basketball: Blue Devils hold on to defeat Syracuse in quarterfinals

The Duke Basketball team was able to hold on to defeat the Syracuse Orange in a tightly contested ACC Tournament game.

After getting out to a very comfortable lead in the first half, the Syracuse Orange went on an 8-0 run to close the first 20 minutes and carried that into the second half, tying the game at a 46 mid-way through the second half.

The Blue Devils would then pull away from the Orange for the remainder of the game, defeating Syracuse 84-72.

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In his first game since suffering a knee injury on February 20, Zion Williamson made his return to the court and his was as impressive as ever.

Zion finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, five steals, and a block, while shooting 13-of-13 from the field and making his only attempt from 3-point range.

The only area where Williamson struggled tonight was at the free throw line, as he only two of his nine attempts.

With his partner in crime back on the floor with him, R.J. Barrett also had a fantastic game despite getting into some foul trouble.

Barrett finished with 23 points, six rebounds, and two assists on eight of sixteen shooting and two of seven from 3-point range.

Cam Reddish was also in foul trouble, but unlike Barrett, he was unable to get most of his shots to fall tonight, but he did hit some clutch 3-pointers late in the second half.

Reddish finished with seven points, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal but just shot two of seven from the field and two of six from 3-point range.

Tre Jones also struggled with his shot, shooting three of twelve from the field and one of seven from 3-point range, he did finish with 15 points and was able to create and distribute despite Syracuse’s 2-3 zone with eight assists.

Javin DeLaurier was very active on the backboards with eight rebounds, three blocks, and two steals despite just two points on the night.

Jordan Goldwire gave the Blue Devils some great minutes off the bench tonight, playing excellent defense and coming away with five points and two steals.

With the win Duke will move to 27-5 overall and get another shot at the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night at approximately 9:30pm ET on ESPN.

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