Sunday afternoon was a Duke basketball fan’s heaven with two future Blue Devils matching up.
Brooklyn, New York felt like Durham, North Carolina for two hours at the Empire Invitational as the Duke basketball program invaded the Big Apple.
Future Blue Devils Kyle Filipowski and Dereck Lively II battled as Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Mass.) played the Westtown School (Pa.).
The showdown between the two five-stars brought Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, and Amile Jefferson to New York, and the coaches loved what they saw from their next stars.
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It was a slow first half for both players, but once the second half started, the action picked up.
Filipowski, with only four points at halftime, flipped a switch at the break as he exploded for 18 points in the second half, many coming on highlight-worthy dunks, to lead all scorers with 22 points in Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s 59-54 victory.
Dereck Lively and Kyle Filipowski put on a show today in Brooklyn
— Ball Durham (@Ball_Durham) January 10, 2022
Check out the highlights below with co-site expert @KevinConnelly24 on the call: pic.twitter.com/arzClsq5NZ
Lively also struggled in the first half with just three points, but Westtown started to feed its stud the basketball in the third and fourth quarters to make a once double-digit deficit into a one-possession game in the final seconds.
The 7-foot-2 star ended his day with 14 points while showcasing his abilities in the paint, on the perimeter, and defensively.
Duke basketball signee talks Blue Devils after victory
In a postgame interview, Kyle Filipowski talked about his relationship with Dereck Lively and how the two are good friends off the court.
The 6-foot-11 forward also mentioned how he is looking forward to getting down to Durham to play with the center and the rest of the top-ranked recruiting class for first-year head coach Jon Scheyer.
Site expert @KevinConnelly24 also got a chance to catch up with Kyle Filipowski after his 22-point winning performance, 18 points in the second half: pic.twitter.com/2yTQc3w5Wa
— Ball Durham (@Ball_Durham) January 10, 2022
Filipowski said that it meant a lot to him that Scheyer, Smith, and Jefferson came up from Durham to see this game as it reaffirmed one of the main reasons he committed to Duke — the family atmosphere.
The full game between Westtown and Wilbraham & Monson can be seen here.
Dariq Whitehead, another five-star Duke commit, comes to New Jersey to play DJ Wagner and Camden (NJ) on Thursday night in a matchup between Top-5 high school programs in the country.