No. 1 overall seed Duke survives 16-seed Siena, rallies for 71-65 win in 1st round of March Madness

By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Duke barely avoided a shocking upset to open the NCAA Tournament, with the No. 1 overall seed having to rally from 13 points down and going ahead for good in the final 5 minutes to beat 16th-seeded Siena 71-65 on Thursday.

Cameron Boozer had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the East Region’s headliner, which hit its first four shots yet need a comeback against a fearless upstart playing just five players right up to the final seconds.

And yet, the Saints took it to the Blue Devils (33-2) at every turn.

The No. 1 seeds entered the week with a 158-2 record against 16 seeds in the tournament, the outliers being Virginia’s loss to UMBC in 2018 and Purdue’s loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023.

And Duke — a blueblood with five NCAA titles — spent much of Thursday in serious danger of being added to that list before finally wrestling away control of the game in the last 8 minutes.

Gavin Doty scored 21 points to lead the Saints (23-12), with his third 3 giving Siena a 61-56 lead with 7:53 left. But Duke ran off 11 unanswered points to finally push ahead for good.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Aaron Beard, The Associated Press