Duke’s Patrick Ngongba II poured in a career-best 28 points and the No. 2 Blue Devils routed Coastal Carolina 113-52 Thursday night in Durham, N.C.
John Blackwell and Caleb Foster, playing in his 100th game for the Blue Devils, each racked up 15 points and Dame Sarr notched 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the field. Cayden Boozer posted 11 points and 12 assists, with his assist total matching the most for a Duke player in seven years.
Duke (2-0) shot 61.3 percent from the field and made half of its 22 attempts from 3-point range. There were 25 assists on 38 baskets.
Ngongba, a sophomore post player, shot 10-for-13 from the field to go with nine rebounds as Coastal Carolina didn’t have an answer for him in the lane during the first half.
Trey Perry scored 14 points and reserve Jaevian Alston added 10 points for Coastal Carolina (0-2). The Chanticleers shot 30.2 percent from the field, including 4-for-22 on 3-pointers.
Duke eclipsed the 100-point mark with more than five minutes remaining. The foul totals also expanded rapidly in the second half, with the Blue Devils ending up 26-for-41 on free throws.
Ngongba’s 18 points matched Coastal Carolina’s first-half output. The halftime score was 54-18.
Ngongba drained a pair of 3-point attempts on back-to-back possessions early in the second half as the margin grew to 66-20.
By the time the Blue Devils drilled their 10th shot from 3-point range, Coastal Carolina had a total of 17 field goals.
Duke almost doubled the Chanticleers in rebounding, led by Sebastian Wilkins’ 11 boards off the bench.
Duke scored the game’s first 16 points before the Chanticleers got on the board six minutes into the game on Perry’s basket.
But unlike in Monday night’s opener against Army when Duke also had a big early surge, this time the Blue Devils were rarely interrupted in building a sizable lead.
