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New York • Nick Johnson scored all but two of his 15 points in the second half and No. 4 Arizona beat No. 6 Duke 72-66 in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Friday.
The game was expected to be a matchup of two of the best freshmen in the country and, although Aaron Gordon of Arizona and Jabari Parker of Duke didn't spend a lot of time covering each other, they were both key factors in the outcome.
Gordon, the quiet forward, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and came up big late with a dunk on an alley-oop pass and then fed Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for a dunk less than a minute later to give the Wildcats (7-0) a 61-51 lead with 3:59 to play.
Parker, who had 19 points for his first game under 20 points this season, struggled against Arizona's physical defense and was 7 of 21 from the field. —
Friday's Top 25 basketball scores
• No. 1 Michigan 98, Mountain St. Mary's 65
• No. 4 Arizona 72, No. 6 Duke 66
• No. 5 Oklahoma State 69, butler 67
• No. 7 Ohio State 99, North Florida 64
• No. 9 Louisville 69, Southern Mississippi 38
• No. 14 Oregon 85, Pacific 62
• No. 15 Florida 67, Florida state 66
• No. 19 UCLA vs. Northwestern, late
• No. 20 Creighton vs. San Diego State, late
• No. 21 Memphis 76, lsu 69
• No. 23 Iowa 89, UTEP 53
• No. 25 Marquette 76, George Washington 60