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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils Round of 64 opponent is finally set

By Kevin Connelly

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 20: The North Dakota State Bison celebrate defeating the North Carolina Central Eagles 78-74 in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 20: The North Dakota State Bison celebrate defeating the North Carolina Central Eagles 78-74 in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 20, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The Round of a 64 is finally set for the Duke Basketball team who were forced to wait since Sunday to find out who it would be playing.

The Battle of Durham will not happen on Friday night in South Carolina as the North Dakota State Bison defeated the North Carolina Central Eagles in the First Four on Wednesday night.

The winner of the Bison and the Eagles would be the team to face the Duke Blue Devils in the Round of 64 on Friday night.

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North Dakota State was up by as many as 13 points in the second half before North Carolina Central came storming back to take the lead late in the game.

The Bison would respond and retake its lead and not look back, defeating NC Central, 78-74.

Four players reached double figures for the Boston, but leading the way for North Dakota State was Tyson Ward with 23 points, six rebounds, and three assists.

As a team, North Dakota State got off to a sizzling start from 3-point territory, and despite cooling off in the second half, the Bison still made nine of its twenty attempts from 3-point range.

North Carolina Central was able to out rebound North Dakota State nine, but remarkably, the Bison only had six turnovers in the entire game.

North Dakota State played a 10-man rotation last night and every player that saw more than five minutes of action scored for the Bison.

With one NCAA Tournament win under its belt, North Dakota State now gets the challenge of traveling from Dayton to Columbia, South Carolina to face the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Duke Blue Devils.

Duke will be looking get the No. 1 overall seed back in the winning column after last season, UMBC defeated the No. 1 overall seed, the Virginia Cavaliers, by 20 points.

The Blue Devils and the Bison are scheduled to tipoff at approximately six 7:10pm ET on CBS Friday night.

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