No. 1 Duke overcomes double-digit halftime deficit to avoid massive NCAA tournament upset against No. 16 Siena
Duke became the first No. 1 seed to trail a No. 16 seed by 10 or more at halftime.
Duke needed quite the second-half comeback to avoid one of the biggest upsets in NCAA tournament history on Thursday. That’s probably not a sentence you expected to read. The No.
1 overall seed beat No. 16 Siena 71-65 after trailing by 11 points at halftime. It was the first time in NCAA tournament history that a No.
1 seed trailed by 10 points or more to a No. 16 seed at the half and Siena’s 13-point lead in the second half was the biggest deficit Duke had faced all season. The Blue Devils, who closed as a 28.
5-point favorite, finally took a second-half lead with 4:25 to go after slowly chipping away at Siena’s margin. After Cameron Boozer tied the game at 61-61 at the free-throw line with 5:08 remaining, Duke forced a Siena turnover and went up by two on a layup by Isaiah Evans. Isaiah Evans gives Duke the lead with 4:25 to go!