DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — With the game in the balance, Duke guard Grayson Allen powered his way down the lane and flipped the ball off the backboard.
Virginia wanted a walking call. The Blue Devils thought he was fouled.
There weren’t any whistles, and Duke wound up with a buzzer-beating win.
The Blue Devils beat the seventh-ranked Cavaliers 63-62 on Saturday on that shot Allen banked in at the horn.
“When Coach drew up the play, and I knew it was coming to me, I really, really wanted to make a play,” Allen said. “And so I did.”
Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points for Virginia (20-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), and his reverse flip layup with 9.9 seconds left put the Cavaliers up 62-61.
Freshman Brandon Ingram scored 25 points while Allen finished with 15 for the Blue Devils (19-6, 8-4), who won their fourth straight and kept the Cavaliers winless at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.
Duke called a timeout with 6 seconds left, with coach Mike Krzyzewski later saying he instructed Allen: “You go. See what’s there.”
Allen inbounded the ball to Marshall Plumlee, who handed it right back to the sophomore guard.
“Get the ball in Grayson’s hands, don’t do anything stupid, try to make a read,” Plumlee said. “I did my part. Grayson did the hard part.”
Allen drove the left side of the lane on defender Marial Shayok, then went airborne while flinging up a one-handed shot that kissed off the glass and went through at the buzzer.
“I joked to Coach K, ‘I think he traveled,'” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “He said, ‘Well, I think he got fouled.'”
Matt Jones finished with 14 points and Plumlee had 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils. After failing to beat a Top 25 opponent for the first three months of the season, they have now knocked off two in six days after beating No. 13 Louisville on Monday night.
Anthony Gill had 12 points for the Cavaliers, whose seven-game winning streak was snapped. They lost their 17th straight visit to Cameron — a slide dating to the year of Krzyzewski’s extended absence — and haven’t beaten Coach K here since 1993.
They pulled to 61-60 when London Perrantes hit two free throws with 1:50 to play and came up with three straight defensive stops after that but struggled to score at the other end.
Brogdon missed a 3-pointer with about a minute left, then missed a running jumper in the lane with about 30 seconds to play.
Allen missed two free throws with 27.3 seconds left, before Shayok found Brogdon in the post and he hit that over-the-shoulder flip over Jones that briefly put Virginia up.
“I did want it to come my way, just because I wanted another opportunity after missing those free throws,” Allen said.
STAT LINE
Ingram single-handedly brought Duke back from an 11-point deficit. He finished one point shy of his season high and was the only Blue Devil to score during a 5½-minute span that bridged the halves, reeling off 18 consecutive points for his team and putting Duke up 41-40 with a jumper with 16½ minutes left. Bennett says the problems he created showed up on the boards, where Duke outrebounded the Cavaliers 24-10 in the second half. “We just couldn’t match up with Ingram,” Bennett said.
TIP-INS
Virginia: The Cavaliers’ last three visits to Cameron have been decided by a total of eight points. This was just their second visit since 2012, losing their last game here in January 2014 when Rasheed Sulaimon — who has since transferred to Maryland — bounced in a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Duke: The Cameron Crazies wore party hats to celebrate Krzyzewski’s 69th birthday. … With the NBA on its All-Star break, two members of last year’s title-winning team — Philadelphia 76ers big man Jahlil Okafor and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Tyus Jones — watched from baseline seats.
UP NEXT
Virginia hosts N.C. State on Monday night.
Duke visits No. 9 North Carolina on Wednesday night.
Blossomgame’s 17 leads Clemson to 66-52 win over Ga. Tech
By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) _ Jaron Blossomgame scored 17 points and had seven rebounds to lead Clemson to a 66-52 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Tigers (15-10, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) led 48-46 in a ragged, foul-marred game before Avry Holmes got a steal and a layup with just under eight minutes to go, and on the next possession, Sidy Djitte stole the ball again and Donte Grantham tipped in a missed layup to put the Tigers up six.
The Yellow Jackets (13-12, 3-9) missed their next 10 shots and couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way as Clemson’s 18-6 run put the game away.
Saturday’s game started Clemson’s finishing stretch of five of six games against the bottom four in the ACC as the Tigers try to get back on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Charles Mitchell scored 11 points and had a career-high 19 rebounds for Georgia Tech.
Barber’s career-high 38 help NC State beat Wake Forest 99-88
By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ Anthony “Cat” Barber scored 30 of his career-high 38 points after halftime to help North Carolina State beat Wake Forest 99-88 on Saturday.
Freshman Maverick Rowan added 20 points for the Wolfpack (13-12, 3-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) in a matchup of teams near the bottom of the league standings. N.C. State avenged last month’s road loss that stood as Wake Forest’s only league win, shooting 54 percent after halftime and getting to the line 45 times for the game.
And Barber once again put on another show, the kind that has made him the ACC’s leading scorer. He finished 10 for 20 from the floor and 17 for 20 on free throws, getting to the line 18 times after halftime alone.
Codi Miller-McIntyre scored a season-high 24 points for the Demon Deacons (10-15, 1-12), while Devin Thomas had 15 points and a career-high 21 rebounds.
No. 22 Kentucky blows out South Carolina 89-62
By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ Tyler Ulis had career highs of 27 points and 12 assists, Jamal Murray scored 26 points and No. 22 Kentucky blew out South Carolina 89-62 on Saturday after coach John Calipari was ejected less than 3 minutes into the game.
The Wildcats (19-6, 9-3 Southeastern Conference) were tied with the Gamecocks and LSU for first place in the league. They proved again who’s tops in the SEC, sending South Carolina to its worst home loss since Anthony Davis led Kentucky to a 34-point win here in 2012.
And Calipari had to watch on TV after he was thrown out with the two technical fouls. Not that it slowed down the Wildcats, who built a 17-point lead in the opening half and gradually stretched things out the rest of the way.
Michael Carrera finished with 25 points for South Carolina (21-4, 8-4).
Johnson’s jumper gives Winthrop 86-84 win over Radford
RADFORD, Va. (AP) _ Keon Johnson hit a 12-foot jump at the buzzer to lift Winthrop to an 86-84 victory over Radford on Saturday and into a first-place tie with idle Asheville in the Big South Conference.
Johnson scored 32 points on 10-of-19 shooting and made all 10 of his free throws. It was his fifth 30-point game this season and he climbed two places into 11th on Winthrop’s career scoring list with 1,262.
Radford’s Cameron Jones, who had 21 points, scored to tie the game with 54 seconds left. Johnson turned the ball over but the Highlanders’ Brandon Holcomb missed with nine seconds remaining before Johnson’s game-winner.
Winthrop (18-7, 10-4) shot 60 percent, Radford (14-12, 7-7) 55 percent.
Trailing by five at halftime. Winthrop took its first lead of the second half, 75-74, on a layup by Xavier Cooks with 5:51 left. The lead changed hands eight times before Jones’ tying basket.
Coastal Carolina holds off Gardner-Webb 78-71
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) _ Shivaughn Wiggins shot 11 for 13 from the field _ 5 for 6 from 3 _ and finished with a career-high 30 points in leading Coastal Carolina past Gardner-Webb 78-71 on Saturday.
Elijah Wilson finished with 15 points, Badou Diagne scored 11 and Tristian Curtis collected 13 rebounds for Coastal Carolina (16-9, 10-5 Big South).
The Chanticleers trailed 33-30 at halftime before starting the second half on an 11-0 run. Tyrell Nelson’s 3-point play with 16:29 left were the first Bulldogs points after intermission.
Later, Wiggins hit a 3 to stretch the lead to 66-54 with 6:25 to play. But Gardner-Webb got back in it with a 15-6 run, and Brandon Miller’s two free throws cut Gardner-Webb’s deficit to 72-69 with 2:33 left.
Coastal Carolina held off the Bulldogs from the free-throw line as neither team scored a field goal down the stretch.
Nelson led Gardner-Webb (13-14, 8-7) 14 points.
