Birthday boy Tre Jones leads Duke to victory in second half struggle
Final. 73. 434. 64. 436
Birthday boy Tre Jones led the Duke Basketball team to a comeback victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday night.
On his 20th birthday, Tre Jones posted a team-high 16 points as the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils needed a second-half comeback to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 73-64.
Duke led by 11 points at halftime, but Georgia Tech had a three-point lead with under nine minutes to play before the Cassius Stanley dunk contest began.
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Stanley tied things up at 55 but it was the senior captain Jack White who gave the Blue Devils the lead on a corner 3-pointer with just over seven minutes to play.
White’s shot put Duke up 58-57 and the Blue Devils never looked back en route to the victory. The 3-pointer was also White’s only made shot of the evening.
Tre Jones put the Blue Devils up for good after Michael Devoe tied things up at 61 with a free throw line jumper to give Duke a 63-61 lead. Jones also scored five of Duke’s last seven points to close out the victory.
In addition to his 16 points, Jones finished with eight rebounds, seven assists, and four rebounds on 5-of-7 shooting.
Vernon Carey Jr. and Stanley both finished with 14 points as Carey Jr. also had six rebounds on an off-night shooting, making just 6-of-14 while Stanley racked up three rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Matthew Hurt was the only other Blue Devil to reach double-figures with 11 points but he also struggled from the floor, shooting 4-of-13 from the field and 3-of-7 from 3-point range but accumulated six rebounds, one assist, and two blocks.
Joey Baker was inserted in the starting lineup but the sophomore did not score after logging just four minutes.
Jordan Goldwire played a season-high 37 minutes in his defensive masterpiece of a game while Alex O’Connell dropped nine points on 4-of-6 shooting in 13 minutes off the bench.
Duke improved to 14-1 on the season and 4-0 in the ACC with three road victories as the Blue Devils will head back to Durham to face the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Saturday, January 11 at 8:00pm EST on the ACC Network.