#7 Duke put six players in double figures on Monday night, and outscored Maine by 23 in the second half in rolling to a 96-62 men’s basketball season opening win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Coach K Court in Durham, North Carolina. It was also the collegiate debut of Newport, Maine native Cooper Flagg who didn’t disappoint in putting in 18 points.
Duke never trailed. The score was tied 6-6 just shy of four minutes into the first half, before they took some control over Maine by going on a 20-3 run scoring 14 points in a row at one point over the next 3:48 to make it 26-9. Another impressive freshman making his Blue Devils debut in guard Kon Knueppel helped to spark that run by scoring 11 of those 20 points. The Black Bears didn’t break though. They would score the next nine points on a three-pointer by Christopher Mantis, a layup and pull-up jumper by Jaden Clayton, and a floater down the lane by Novak Perovic to cut it to eight. Flagg had his first collegiate field goal with 6:25 left in that first half, and his team held a 44-33 advantage at the break.
A three-pointer by Quion Burns got Maine back within eight again 28 seconds into the second half, but that is as close as they’d get. Duke went on another run of 20-7 over the next eight minutes to put it away. Flagg made his presence felt scoring another 10 points over the final 20 minutes. Twin brother Ace Flagg, who has committed to Coach Chris Markwood and the Black Bears beginning in the 2025-26 season, was in attendance to watch the action.
Burns led Maine in the loss with 15 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Junior Keelan Steele, who had only played a total of 42 minutes in a Black Bears uniform, was solid under the basket scoring 11 points on 5-6 shooting before fouling out with 8:29 left in the second half. Clayton and Mantis also chipped in eight points and four rebounds a piece, as the team shot 37% from the floor overall and 17-18 from the foul line. Knueppel and Flagg had quite the debuts in the win for Duke. Knueppel had 22 points on 8-14 from the floor with four rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Flagg filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and also hit all six of his free throw attempts. Sion James and Caleb Foster had 11 points each, while Tyrese Proctor along with Mason Gillis contributed 10 points a piece for the Blue Devils. Maine heads back to Orono for their home opener on Wednesday evening against Division III opponent the University of Maine Fort-Kent, while Duke will host Army on Friday.
Maine native and Duke freshman Cooper Flagg soars down the lane for a dunk in the season opener against Maine on Monday, November 4 in Durham, North Carolina. Flagg scored 18 points in his collegiate debut as the Blue Devils won 96-62. Photo courtesy of DukeMBB on X.
