NCAA News Wire
Duke 89, Boston College 68
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
BOSTON — Duke forward Jabari Parker set career highs with 29 points and 16 rebounds to power the No. 11 Blue Devils to an 89-68 victory over the Boston College Eagles on Saturday.
Parker scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the second half, propelling him to his 14th game of at least 20 points this season. He set the Duke freshman record earlier this year.
Guard Quinn Cook scored 21 points and guard Rasheed Sulaimon added 10 for the Blue Devils (19-5, 8-3 ACC), who won their second in a row one week after dropping a 91-89 overtime thriller to current No. 1 Syracuse.
Guard Olivier Hanlan netted 25 points and forward Ryan Anderson had 12 for the Eagles (6-17, 2-8), who hung around in the opening half, trailing by only four at the break, but still lost their third straight game and 10th in the last 12.
Parker pretty much put this one away on his own early in the second.
He scored seven points and pulled down three big rebounds in the opening 4:13 of the half, capping a 12-2 stretch with a fast-break dunk that handed Duke a 51-38 lead.
After Joe Rahon’s 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to nine, the Blue Devils exploded on an 18-0 run over the ensuing 3:55 — a dominating stretch highlighted by a three-point play by Parker and a pair of 3s from Cook that ballooned the lead to 71-44 with 9:21 remaining.
Parker set his career high for points when he slammed home an alley-oop pass from Sulaimon with under four minutes left.
The opening 20 minutes were a different story, though.
Trailing by as much as seven early, the Eagles tied the game at 28 with 4:13 to go in the half when Rahon hit his second 3-pointer in a little more than a minute.
The Blue Devils pulled away down the stretch, though, using Sulaimon’s 7-3 run to take a 39-35 advantage into halftime.
NOTES: Duke earned an 89-68 victory over BC at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the teams’ last meeting, Feb. 24, 2013. Just two weeks earlier, the Eagles nearly upset the Blue Devils, leading by five with 2:15 to play before falling 62-61 at Conte Forum. … F Jabari Parker, who scored 10 points in the first half, already has set a Duke freshman record with 13 games of at least 20 points. He is looking to become the first freshman to lead the team in scoring and rebounds. … Boston College F Ryan Anderson came into the game averaging 19.7 points and shooting 69 percent in his last three games. G Olivier Hanlan, third in the ACC in scoring (17.7), averaged just 10 points over his last three, but scored 14 in the first half Saturday. … All five of Duke’s losses this year have come away from home.
