HOME TEAMS HOLD SERVE IN 2K EMPIRE CLASSIC BENEFITING WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT

November 15, 2019

Home rule was the name of the game in Friday’s 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project.

In Durham, Tre Jones (pictured) scored a career-high 31 points and No. 2 Duke pulled away to beat pesky Georgia State 74-63. The win virtually assures that the Blue Devils will rise to No. 1 in the polls when they are announced on Monday.

Freshman Vernon Carey Jr. added season highs of 20 points and 14 rebounds and Jack White finished with 10 rebounds.

This one was tied at 40 with less than 17 minutes to play, before Jones took over. He scored 10 points during a 13-0 run that pushed the lead into double figures.

He put them ahead to stay with a 3-pointer and followed that with three layups. On the last one, he blew past Chris Clerkley while drawing contact from the Georgia State guard, then hit a free throw to put Duke up 51-40. After Wendell Moore Jr. capped the run with a stickback, the Panthers never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Corey Allen scored 20 points and Kane Williams finished with 16 for Georgia State (1-2).

In Austin, Matt Coleman III had 17 points, Andrew Jones scored 15 and Texas defeated Prairie View A&M 70-56.

Donovan Williams added 13 points for the Longhorns, and Jase Febres scored 10. Jericho Sims grabbed 10 rebounds.

Lenell Henry led Prairie View with 12 points. Chancellor Ellis scored 11. Ellis, who made 13 3-point baskets in Prairie View’s first three games, was limited to two treys in six attempts by Texas.

Texas pulled ahead by 15 twice during the final 6:27. After that, Prairie View aggressively drove to the basket, making baskets and inducing fouls but never cut the deficit to fewer than eight.

In Berkeley, Grant Anticevich scored 16 of his career-high 23 points in the first half, and California went on a big run in the second half and beat California Baptist 82-62.

Matt Bradley added 16 points and Kareem South scored 10 to help the Golden Bears, who are 3-0, to their best start since 2015-16.

California gave away an early 12-point lead and trailed 42-40 early in the second half but began to pull away early in the second half. Anticevich, whose previous high was 11 points, sparked a 17-0 run with a 3-pointer and 16-foot jumper.

Anticevich, who also had nine rebounds, shot 9-of-11 and made all five 3-point attempts to match the California record shared by Amit Tamir and Eric Vierneisel. Anticevich had made multiple 3-pointers in a game only once in his previous two seasons in Berkeley.

Ferron Flavors Jr. had 11 points and seven rebounds for California Baptist, who also received 10 points and six assists from Milan Acquaah.

The 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project resumes Sunday with Georgetown hosting Georgia State. The final Regional Round game will be played Monday at Cal where the Golden Bears will be home to Prairie View A&M.