DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Wendell Moore Jr. scored 21 points as No. 2 Duke pulled away for a 92-67 victory over Appalachian State on Thursday night.
Moore made 8 of 11 shots and had five rebounds and six assists. Paolo Banchero scored 16 points, AJ Griffin and Trevor Keels had 11 apiece and Jeremy Roach scored 10 for the Blue Devils (9-1).
Duke ended the first half on a 20-9 run and led by 13 points at intermission. App State (6-6) had led 24-23 midway through the first half.
The Mountaineers trimmed the deficit to five points early in the second half, but Duke then connected on three straight 3-point attempts to push its lead to double digits again.
Leading the Mountaineers was Michael Almonacy, who scored all of his 17 points in the first half. Justin Forrest had 16 points for App State.
BIG PICTURE
Appalachian State: The Mountaineers brought back 92% of their scoring from a team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, the third ever App State team to do so. The Mountaineers hung with Duke for a while, but couldn’t keep pace with the Blue Devils in the second half. Still, App State should have enough firepower to compete for the Sun Belt championship again.
Duke: The Blue Devils played well enough to win by a comfortable margin. Duke took care of the ball, racking up 21 assists to just nine turnovers. Duke entered this game with the third-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country at plus-1.95.
UP NEXT
Appalachian State: The Mountaineers return to the Triangle on Tuesday, playing at North Carolina.
Duke: After its game against Cleveland State was canceled, Duke will now host Loyola (Maryland) on Saturday.
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