ACC admits game-altering mistake by refs in Duke’s loss at Virginia

Duke’s Kyle Filipowski is fouled as he goes up for a basket at the end of regulation against Virginia on Saturday in Charlottesville. The officials incorrectly overturned the foul, sending the game to overtime rather than awarding the Blue Devils two free throws, the ACC admitted hours after the game. The Cavaliers won the game. (Mike Kropf / AP Photo)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Instead of shooting two free throws with time expired and the game tied on Saturday, Kyle Filipowski and Duke left Charlottesville with a loss to the Cavaliers.

Duke (17-8, 8-6) seemed poised to win when Filipowski drove on the final play of regulation and two defenders contested his shot. The officials initially whistled a foul but waved it off after a lengthy review.

More than four hours after the game, the Atlantic Coast Conference admitted its officials had blown the call, citing two NCAA rules that should have awarded Filipowski — a 77% free throw shooter but 0 for 2 from the line on the night — two shots and the opportunity to end the game from the line.

“A foul was called on Virginia’s Ryan Dunn during a shot attempt by Duke Kyle Filipowski as time expired,” the ACC’s press release said. “Upon the officials’ review of the play, it was determined that the foul occurred after the clock had reached 0.0. However, the play should have resulted in two free throws for Duke.”

Instead, Armaan Franklin hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining in overtime to cap off a 23-point night in No. 8 Virginia’s 69-62 win.

Kihie Clark added 16 points and Ben Vander Plas 13 for the Cavaliers (19-4, 11-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won despite a 9-for-22 performance from the free-throw line.

Trailing 58-53, Duke got a driving basket from Jeremy Roach — who had a team-high 16 points — with 1:31 left and a 3-pointer by Jacob Grandison from in front of the Duke bench to tie it with 50 seconds left. Neither team scored again in regulation.

“I do wish that [Kyle Filipowski] got that opportunity at the end,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after the game. “I still would like an explanation exactly what had happened. I don’t have clarity on that. I can’t give you clarity on that. Disappointing.”

Vander Plas drew a huge ovation when he made a pair of free throws to open the overtime scoring. At that point, Virginia had missed nine of 12 from the line. Clark’s driving basket and another free throw gave the Cavaliers a 63-58 lead and two baskets by Tyrese Proctor was all the Blue Devils managed in the extra period. Proctor scored 14 while Filipowski, who averages 15.5 points, was scoreless.

Duke, now 2-6 in league road games, became the 39th consecutive ACC opponent to fail to reach 70 points at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers used an 8-0 run to lead 54-51 with just under five minutes to play. Young hit a pair of free throws to pull Duke within a point, but after Virginia failed to score, the Blue Devils committed their third shot clock violation of the game with 3:29 left.

Virginia used a 14-5 run spanning the halves to take a 35-30 lead, but Duke responded with a 19-9 run that featured eight points by Dariq Whitehead, who had missed the past four games with an ankle injury.

Duke returns home to face Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.