Duke rolls to 78-61 win over Cal State Fullerton, advances to second round
Posted March 18, 2022 8:02 p.m. EDT
Updated March 18, 2022 9:38 p.m. EDT
Greenville, S.C. — GREENVILLE, S.C. — No. 2 seed Duke (29-6) cruised to a 78-61 win over 15-seed Cal State Fullerton (21-11) in their opening-round matchup.
The game was never really in doubt, save maybe a 10-2 run by Cal State Fullerton to cut Duke's lead from 14 to six points.
But Duke scored the final four points of the half to go into the break with a 10-point lead, and Duke's lead stayed in double digits for all but 53 seconds of the second half and grew to as large as 20 points.
Cal State Fullerton started out 3 of 18 shooting and then made 8 of its final 17 shots, helping cut into the Duke lead.
Duke shot 51.7% for the game and went 9 of 22 from the 3-point line, out-rebounding the Titans 38-30. All five Duke starters scored in double figures, led by Paolo Banchero with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Mark Williams had 15 points and seven rebounds, plus a career-high five assists. Wendell Moore Jr. had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Jeremy Roach added 12 points on 3 of 8 shooting and five assists.
Duke point guard Trevor Keels came off the bench and finished with six points.
Duke had eight first-half turnovers that Cal State Fullerton turned into 12 points, but turned it over just five times and allowed just four second-half points off of turnovers.
Cal State Fullerton shot just 31.4% in the first half and 37.5% for the game. Damari Milstead led the Titans with 12 points, while three other Cal State Fullerton players had at least 10 points, including the Big West's leading scorer E.J. Anosike.
Duke moves on to the second round to face the winner of the matchup between 7-seed Michigan State and 10-seed Davidson.
