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03/19 16:16 CDT No. 1 overall seed Duke survives 16-seed Siena, rallies for
71-65 win in 1st round of March Madness
No. 1 overall seed Duke survives 16-seed Siena, rallies for 71-65 win in 1st
round of March Madness
By AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) --- 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.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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