McCain continues hot shooting with 24 points, No. 16 Duke beats Queens 106-69
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Jared McCain scored a season-high 24 points and No. 16 Duke beat Queens 106-69 on Saturday.
Kyle Filipowski added 19 points to go with a career-high five blocked shots for Duke (9-3), which has won four games in a row. The freshman McCain scored 21 or more points in three of those games.
“It feels really nice to be getting back and just building off each game,” McCain said. “College basketball, especially as a freshman, is full of ups and downs.”
McCain shot 9 for 14 from the field, including 4 of 9 on 3-pointers.
“Jared is a unique player,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I love how ready he was to shoot. When he’s going, it adds another dimension.”
Caleb Foster had 13 points and Mark Mitchell added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Devils.
Deyton Albury scored 23 points for Queens (6-9), which lost to a nationally ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team on the road for the second game in a row after last week’s 30-point setback at Clemson. Jaxon Pollard had 10 points.
“I thought there was moments where we really competed and put it all on the line,” Queens coach Grant Leonard said. “I thought there were moments we looked really good. We’ve just got to clean it up.”
Blue Devils guard Tyrese Proctor played for the first time in four weeks after sustaining an ankle injury, entering off the bench in the first half. His 3-pointer in the second half pushed Duke to a 67-44 lead and he ended up with nine points and four assists.
“I’m close to (full strength),” said Proctor, who started the first eight games. “I was very happy with how I felt.”
Proctor played 18 minutes, which was three more than Scheyer expected.
“I thought he played really efficiently,” Scheyer said. “You have to get back out there at some time. There’s going to be rust no matter what. We felt like this was an important step for him.”
McCain had 17 first-half points as the Blue Devils led 46-33 at halftime in their highest-scoring first half of the season. Duke had its first 100-point game in Scheyer’s two seasons as coach.
BIG PICTURE
Queens: The Royals were steady for a first-half stretch after falling into a double-digit hole, but they couldn’t string enough good possessions together and finished with 19 turnovers.
Duke: The Blue Devils were far too good for Queens, and that provided an ideal opportunity for Proctor to work back into game form. Duke shot 58% from the field for its best mark since 64.4% in the opener vs. Dartmouth.
UP NEXT
Queens: Visits Kennesaw State next Saturday.
Duke: Hosts Syracuse on Tuesday night.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here.
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
