Posted on 03/19/2026 3:38:53 PM PDT by sopo
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- — Duke barely avoided a shocking upset to open the NCAA Tournament, with the No. 1 overall seed having to rally from 13 points down and going ahead for good in the final 5 minutes to beat 16th-seeded Siena 71-65 on Thursday.
Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the East Region's headliner, which hit its first four shots yet need a comeback against a fearless upstart playing just five players right up to the final seconds.
And yet, the Saints took it to the Blue Devils (33-2) at every turn.
The No. 1 seeds entered the week with a 158-2 record against 16 seeds in the tournament, the outliers being Virginia's loss to UMBC in 2018 and Purdue's loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023.
And Duke — a blueblood with five NCAA titles — spent much of Thursday in serious danger of being added to that list before finally wrestling away control of the game in the last 8 minutes.
Gavin Doty scored 21 points to lead the Saints (23-12), with his third 3 giving Siena a 61-56 lead with 7:53 left. But Duke ran off 11 unanswered points to finally push ahead for good, securing a date against TCU in the second round.
But much of the afternoon belonged to the Saints. As Doty and Brendan Coyle hit big 3s — followed by confident arms-raised celebrations as they backpedaled downcourt — the crowd grew more energized with every passing minute in the first half, including fans wearing Ohio State red and the lighter blue of Duke rival North Carolina eager to start jumping on the ride.
And the Saints kept increasing their advantage, jarringly taking a 43-32 lead as Duke looked discombobulated and uncomfortable in its tournament debut. A team that had dominated inside to reach the top of the AP Top 25 even found itself being outrebounded and outscored in the paint by halftime, a testament to how Gerry McNamara's team was ready for the fight in its first March Madness appearance since 2010.
Ultimately, though, the rousing shots started to slow for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion. Siena missed eight straight shots and went scoreless for nearly 7 minutes during the decisive run, part of an 8-for-34 showing (23.5%) after halftime.
Duke, meanwhile, finally grabbed its first lead since the opening 4 minutes on Isaiah Evans' driving score at 63-61, while Evans and Boozer each hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds to help Duke finally put away Siena.
Cayden Boozer added 19 points for Duke, which shot 40.7% for the game and made just 5 of 26 3-pointers. Francis Folefac had 18 points and seven boards for Siena.
The Blue Devils played their fifth straight game without starting big man Patrick Ngongba II due soreness in his right foot.
Up next
Duke: The Blue Devils’ date with the Horned Frogs on Saturday will be the first meeting between the programs.
to revise and extend my remarks, I just went back to figure out how that happened. ESPN has a gamecast summary which I read, then asssumed the recap at the top of the page that I posted was the same, it wasn’t.
Overall seed? Is this a gardening thread?
It has become a bit of a destination school. It was a diploma mill when I got an accounting degree there at their Winston-Salem campus courtesy of Sara Lee. They got fat with that Sara Lee/RJR/furniture money and turned into a country club. I haven’t even been back to HPU as I only took one class in High Point.
One of their basketball losses was to my other alma mater, App State.
I noticed the Baseball team went 2-1 against #9 Florida and promptly got shutout by Liberty. It’s been that year for everyone.
The #5 vs #12 game strikes again.
that’s the famed curse.
I went to UF ‘79 to 82. BSEE.
And they run out of gas in the second half. You need seven to win.
The announcer said one Siena subbed in at the very end, with less than one minute to go. He shows in the box score, with 0 minutes played.
Michigan is in a bit of a tussle against Howard.
I have Penn shocking Illinois tonight.
UF Class of 1980, B.S. in Broadcasting. Went back for grad school to get a M.A. in Public Relations but left with 30 Hours and half my thesis completed in order to take a high-paying job. My thesis committee actually told me to forget the M.A. and take the job. I was making more money than any of the professors. Later picked up two Masters at Webster in unrelated disciplines through the GI Bill. In all kinds of weather, Go Gators! (But I don’t think the Gator Boys will stay hot enough to repeat this year in March Madness.)
I’d love to see that,I kow a really nice Christian kid on Penn.
I don’t ever remember seeing a boxscore like that.
I wonder if Penn has one of those Ivy League lineups of all Seniors which leads me to believe that choosing Penn to cover might be a good call. Penn’s a 25.5 pt underdog.
Down go the Tar Heels.
Michigan is in a bit of a tussle against Howard.
Not a tussle anymore.
Ivy League teams are always tricky in the first round.
Good day for Texas teams: TCU, A&M and UT win.
I haven’t given a damn about college basketball or football since the cartel conferences, NIL, an NCAA destroyed amateur sports.
SEC looking better than Big 10
Michael Jordan averaged over 40 minutes per game during his championship years, often playing the full 48.
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