In a weekend tournament to honor the 80th birthday of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils trailed in all three of their games but found a way to “just do it.” Duke came back on Sunday night to beat the No. 7 Florida Gators 87-84 to win the Motion Bracket of the PK Invitational in Portland.
No. 1 Duke earns another comeback victory to beat Florida, win PK80 Tournament bracket
Blue Devils trailed by 17 points in the second half on Sunday.
Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports
Marvin Bagley III was the star of the weekend. He scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and he averaged 27.7 points and 15 boards in the three-game tournament.
Duke, which trailed by 16 in its overtime win over Texas in Friday’s semifinal, trailed Florida by 17 points in the second half on Sunday. The lead was 10 points with 4:27 remaining, but the Blue Devils turned up the heat on defense, outscoring the Gators 15-3 the rest of the way.
Florida’s final four possessions included two turnovers, a free-throw miss on the front end of a one-and-one, and a desperation, off-balance heave at the buzzer.
The Blue Devils grabbed their first lead of the second half thanks to a pair of free throws by Gary Trent Jr. with 1:15 left. He scored 15 points in the win.
Grayson Allen was 4-of-8 from distance for Duke and scored 14 points.
Jalen Hudson had 24 points and 10 rebounds in defeat for Florida.
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