Hurricanes end skid, hang on to defeat Duke 77-75

CORAL GABLES, Fla.  — Elijah Olaniyi scored 21 points, Anthony Walker and Isaiah Wong added 16 points apiece and short-handed Miami overcame shaky foul shooting down the stretch to defeat Duke 77-75 on Monday, ending a four-game losing streak.

The Hurricanes, whose previous three games with the Blue Devils were losses by at least 30 points, made this one difficult by missing 4 of 8 free throws, including the front end of two 1-and-1 opportunities, in the final 75 seconds.

But Walker made a pair with 12.8 seconds to go that proved to be the difference. He made it 77-73 before a tipin by Duke forward Wendell Moore Jr. at 4.9 seconds.

Wong missed his front end with 4.3 seconds remaining but Duke capped its frustrating night by not being able to get up a final shot.

With just six scholarship players available, Miami (7-10, 3-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) had lost four-straight games without reaching 60 points in any of them. Wong was questionable after spraining an ankle on Saturday.

But Wong appeared fine and the Hurricanes didn’t have any problem getting the ball inside, shooting 52.5%, including 17 of 28 (60.7%) in the second half. When Duke went to a 3-2 zone, one of the worst Division I 3-point shooting teams (28.4%) made 7 of 15 behind the arc, led by Olaniyi’s 3-for-5 shooting.

Matthew Hurt led the Blue Devils (7-6, 5-4) with 21 points. Moore added 18 points, DJ Steward scored 14 and Jalen Johnson 13. Duke was just 5 of 18 (27.8%) from distance and shot 46% overall, 44% in the second half.

There were 20 lead changes and the big lead for both teams was six points. Duke led 35-33 at the half.

The next game for both teams is on Saturday. Duke faces North Carolina when both are unranked for the first time since the 1959-60 season. Miami plays No. 16 Virginia Tech.