No. 9 Duke rallies from 14 down to beat Louisville

Cooper Flagg scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for No. 9 Duke, but the visiting Blue Devils did not need their freshman phenom in the game as they rallied to beat host Louisville 76-65 on Sunday.Duke (7-2, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed by as much as 30-16 midway through the first half thanks to the Cardinals’ making 10 of their first 14 shots, including seven of their first nine 3-pointers.However, the shots would stop falling for the Cardinals (5-4, 0-1), who ended up shooting 37.3 percent overall.Still, the hosts managed to hold on to the lead until Sion James’ dunk with 9:27 left tied the game at 55. James then hit a pair of free throws 41 seconds later to give the Blue Devils a lead they would not surrender.Duke’s comeback came while Flagg sat after committing his fourth foul midway through the second half. His team held an eight-point lead by the time he returned nearly six minutes later.The combination of Louisville’s shots eventually not falling and 10 first-half turnovers allowed Duke to crawl back into the contest. A three-point play by Flagg cut the Blue Devils’ deficit to 37-33 with 3:21 left in the half, but Duke’s cold shooting prevented making those their final points of the half.