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No. 2 Duke tops No. 4 OSU, 73-68

DURHAM, N.C. — Once the shots started falling for Duke freshman Rasheed Sulaimon, it wasn’t long before another top-five opponent went down, too.

Sulaimon scored all 17 of his points in the second half of the second-ranked Blue Devils’ 73-68 come-from-behind victory over No. 4 Ohio State on Wednesday night.

“I let my teammates down in the beginning, not playing as well as I could be, and (coach Mike Krzyzewski) really got on me at halftime,” Sulaimon said. “I just love these guys and wanted to go out there and respond.”

Mason Plumlee had 21 points and a career-high-tying 17 rebounds, and Ryan Kelly added 15 points and hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips downcourt early during the 20-7 run that put the Blue Devils (7-0) ahead to stay and sent them to their third win over a top-five team this month.

Deshaun Thomas scored 16 points for Ohio State (4-1), while Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. had 11 apiece. The Buckeyes were held to 33.8 percent shooting.

“If you had told me we were going to shoot 34 percent, I would have said we got ran out of the gym tonight,” Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said.

Shannon Scott pulled the Buckeyes within 66-64 with a free throw with 28.9 seconds left but had a critical turnover on the next trip down, and Quinn Cook sealed it by hitting six free throws in the final 27.3 seconds.

“We just didn’t do a good job of staying together, and they started going on a run,” Craft said. “We couldn’t weather it.”

Cook finished with 12 points for Duke, which shot 58 percent in the second half — Sulaimon was 7 of 10 in the final 20 minutes — to remain unbeaten at home in the made-for-TV ACC-Big Ten Challenge and preserve its school-record winning streak at home against nonconference opponents.

The Blue Devils — who beat then-No. 3 Kentucky in Atlanta and then-No. 2 Louisville in the Bahamas — won their 97th straight against non-ACC visitors to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But for much of the way, nothing came easy for them. They were outrebounded 40-37 and couldn’t get anything going on the offensive glass.

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