Caleb Foster steadies Duke in return as Blue Devils beat St. John’s 80-75 and advance to Elite Eight
WASHINGTON (AP) — Caleb Foster and Duke proved St. John’s hasn’t quite cornered the market on tenacity.
Foster returned from a broken foot and rescued the Blue Devils’ national title hopes, helping the NCAA Tournament’s top seed rally from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat St. John’s 80-75 on Friday night and advance to the Elite Eight.
Playing less than three weeks after surgery on his left foot, Foster scored all of his 11 points in the second half. When Cayden Boozer’s ballhandling struggles were allowing the Red Storm to extend their lead, Foster came in and turned the game back in Duke’s favor.
“To be honest, he had no business playing tonight — 99 percent of guys do not come back to play under the circumstances of what’s happened to him,” Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer said. “It was incredible the way he willed us.”
Isaiah Evans scored 25 points and Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (35-2), who extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 14, but not before the fifth-seeded Red Storm (30-7) pushed Duke to the wire.
Duke will face second-seeded UConn in Sunday’s East Region final.
The Blue Devils led 77-74 with 32.4 seconds left when Cameron Boozer missed the front end of a one-and-one. Zuby Ejiofor drew a foul at the other end with 14.7 seconds to play, but the St. John’s standout — who finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists — made only one of two free throws.
Evans also made one of two, giving the Red Storm one last chance to tie it, down 78-75. But Dylan Darling — whose layup at the buzzer against Kansas in the previous round put St. John’s in the Sweet 16 — missed badly from well beyond the arc. Boozer made two free throws with 1.5 seconds left.
It was just the second loss for St. John’s coach Rick Pitino in 14 visits to the Sweet 16 — and just the second loss for this season’s Red Storm in their final 23 games.
After a relatively sure-handed first half, the Blue Devils were sloppy to start the second. A turnover by Cameron Boozer led to a dunk by Ejiofor. Then Boozer’s brother Cayden had the ball stolen near midcourt by Darling and Ejiofor dunked again to put St. John’s up 48-44.
A Duke timeout did little to help. Another turnover by Cayden Boozer led to a layup by Ejiofor. Then 6-foot-11 Ruben Prey sank his fourth 3-pointer in four attempts, and suddenly the Red Storm were up 53-44.
Duke countered by inserting Foster for Cayden Boozer. He helped steady the offense, and the Blue Devils went to a zone on defense. They trailed by 10 before beginning their comeback.
A 3-pointer by Evans put Duke ahead at 63-62. Bryce Hopkins answered with a 3 for St. John’s. Then an acrobatic layup by Evans tied it — and the chase was on.
“They’re one of the most physical teams we played all year. It’s something we talked about every single day, just their physicality, their pressure,” Cameron Boozer said. “I thought we did a pretty good job overall. We had some stretches where we gave them a run with turnovers, but through the game overall we did a pretty good job weathering the storm.”
Dillon Mitchell dunked home a missed free throw to put St. John’s up 69-67. Then Evans made another 3, prompting Pitino to turn his back in apparent disbelief. Cameron Boozer banked in a shot from a tough angle while being fouled with 3:06 to play. The free throw put the Blue Devils up by four.
Foster’s pullup jumper put Duke ahead 75-69. Ejiofor responded with a 3 for St. John’s, but Foster’s driving layup made it 77-72, and the Blue Devils held on.
“It was our defense that broke down,” Pitino said. “It wasn’t so much not being in the right place. We just got bullied to the basket. They do that to a lot of teams. That’s why they’re the No. 1-ranked team in the country. We couldn’t defend the bully drives.”
As expected, St. John’s applied pressure from the start, contesting just about every inch of the court. Duke had some of the same problems Kansas did in the previous round, with inbounding the ball an adventure early.
Eventually, the Blue Devils settled in and led 35-28 following an 18-5 run, but four St. John’s 3-pointers later, the Red Storm were up 40-39 at halftime.
After shooting just 11 of 35 from long distance against Kansas, St. John’s was 9 of 18 in the first half Friday. That included a 3 by Mitchell, who was 0 for 14 from beyond the arc on the season, and a 3-for-3 showing by Prey, who came in averaging 4.1 points per game.
Pitino laments the long postgame wait
Pitino suggested NCAA organizers change the postgame protocol that had the winning team going to the podium first.
“You should have the losing team go first because you left us disappointed in the locker room while the other team’s celebrating — rightfully so,” he said. “You should let the losing team go first and then let the winning team have as long as you want. Just a suggestion because you just left us hanging out there for over a half-hour.”
Up next
St. John’s: This was Ejiofor’s fourth season of college basketball and the fifth for Hopkins, so the Red Storm could look a lot different next season.
Duke: The Blue Devils are 3-2 against UConn in the NCAA Tournament but have lost the last two, including the 1999 title game.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness