No. 4 Duke pulls away in 2nd half to beat Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Isiah Evans scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 5 for 6 on 3-pointers, and No. 4 Duke pulled away in the second half to defeat Pittsburgh 70-54 on Tuesday night.

Cameron Boozer added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils, and Caleb Foster had 14 points and eight boards.

Duke (22-2, 11-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back from a buzzer-beating loss to archrival North Carolina on Saturday that ended the Blue Devils’ 10-game winning streak. Duke blew a 15-point lead in the second half of that one and allowed the last nine points.

There were six lead changes and five ties in the first half before Duke scored seven straight points to take a 35-29 halftime lead. The Blue Devils then scored the first five points of the second period to make it a 12-0 run and extend their advantage to 40-29.

Pitt (9-16, 2-10) lost for the 10th time in 12 games. Roman Siulepa led the Panthers with 19 points and Barry Dunning Jr. scored 17, including 13 in the first half.

Brandin Cummings, Pitt’s leading scorer, missed his third straight game with an ankle injury. Cummings is averaging 12.5 points per game for a team that entered 302nd in the nation in scoring (70.8 ppg).

Duke shot 57.4% from the field compared to Pitt’s 35.8% and held a 34-22 rebounding advantage.

Up next

Duke hosts No. 20 Clemson on Saturday.

Pittsburgh visits No. 11 North Carolina on Saturday.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball