CHARLOTTE – Isaiah Evans scored 20 points and No. 1 Duke relied on various sources to beat No. 10 Virginia 74-70 and repeat as Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion in a tense title game Saturday night.

Cayden Boozer, the twin brother of the ACC Player of the Year, matched his career high with 16 points for the second straight night and Cameron Boozer had 13 points for Duke (32-2), which could be the No. 1 overall seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket is unveiled Sunday.

It’s the first time a team has won consecutive ACC tournaments since the Blue Devils won three straight from 2009-11.

Cameron Boozer was bothered by Virginia’s defense, shooting 3-for-17 from the field, but he had eight rebounds and eight assists. The top-seeded Blue Devils received nine points and six boards from Nikolas Khamenia off the bench and nine points from Dame Sarr.

Malik Thomas poured in 18 points and Sam Lewis racked up 17 points for second-seeded Virginia (29-5), which was aiming for its first conference tournament title since 2018. Ugonna Onyenso blocked nine shots as part of a record-setting three-game stretch.

The championship game was much tighter than Duke’s 77-51 home victory when the teams met two weeks earlier.

Lewis hit two of Virginia’s three made 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half as the Cavaliers went up 49-45.

The teams continued to trade blows, with Lewis’ 3-pointer bringing the Cavaliers even at 58-58 with 8:14 left.

Cameron Boozer had five straight points as Duke pulled ahead at 63-60. Thomas’ three-point play tied it.

Later, Cayden Boozer’s bucket off a rebound put Duke up 68-66 before a Virginia shot-clock violation at the 2:18 mark. Evans hit both ends of a 1-and-1 before Onyenso’s putback. Cameron Boozer missed two free throws on the ensuing Duke possession.

Virginia’s Thomas misfired on the front end of a 1-and-1 with 51 seconds left. Cameron Boozer rebounded his own missed shot, setting up Evans for two free throws with 12.3 seconds remaining.

After a quick Thomas basket, Cameron Boozer drained two foul shots with 3.9 seconds to play to seal it.

Both teams finished with eight made 3-point baskets.

Onyenso had a series of blocked shots as Duke found it difficult to score in the lane. Seven of his championship-game-record nine rejections came with more than 12 minutes remaining.

Despite 50% shooting from the floor, Duke’s halftime lead was only 38-36 after the Blue Devils had their largest lead of the half at 36-29. Cayden Boozer had 14 points.

Onyenso blocked a tournament-record 21 shots in three games, eclipsing the mark set 31 years ago by Tim Duncan of Wake Forest.

— Bob Sutton, Field Level Media

Mateusz Bogusz found the net with an unlikely, short-handed goal 15 minutes into second-half stoppage time as the host Houston Dynamo defeated the Portland Timbers 3-2 on Saturday in a wild, early-season Western Conference match.

Bogusz got loose on the counterattack with a run down the left side before taking a pass from Jack McGlynn and beating Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis to the bottom-right corner.

Any chance that the Dynamo (2-1-0, 6 points) had to win seemingly died when Nicholas Markanich was assessed a red card three minutes into the final stoppage time. But Bogusz dispelled that notion, coming up big and lifting Houston to the victory.

Portland (1-3-3, points) dropped its third straight game and has now conceded two or more goals in seven consecutive matches dating back to last year’s opening-round MLS Cup playoff series against San Diego.

The Timbers broke through in the fourth minute of first-half added time after being awarded a penalty kick in a bizarre series of events. Houston’s Diadie Samassekou was booked for holding Portland’s Finn Surman in the box during a shot by Kristoffer Velde off a corner kick but video review showed that as Velde’s attempt flew far over the goal, Samassekou was tugging on the jersey of Surman and pulled him to the ground.

The shot from the spot was taken by Velde but was saved by Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond. But the ball bounced right to the foot of the Timbers’ Gage Guerra, who sent a shot just out of the reach of a diving Bond and into the net off the right post.

Guilherme Santos answered for the Dynamo in the 62nd minute, waiting at the far post before leaping over a Portland defender to head home a cross box from Bogusz and tying the game at 1-1.

McGlynn made a bid to put Houston on top in the 65th minute but clanged a shot off the crossbar.

Felipe Andrade gave Houston the lead in the 77th minute with a precise shot from outside the box and into the lower-right corner past Pantemis. Guilherme garnered an assist on the goal.

The lead was short-lived as Velde scored two minutes later off a shot while in traffic in the center of the box after a throw-in by Jimer Fory and an assist from Surman.

That set the stage for the unlikely finish.

–Field Level Media

Boston Legacy FC set an NWSL attendance record for an inaugural game with 30,207 fans filling Gillette Stadium, but Gotham FC played spoiler by notching a 1-0 win over the expansion club Saturday afternoon in Foxborough, Mass.

Esther Gonzalez broke a scoreless draw in the 55th minute when teammate Lilly Reale sent a cross on the ground into the box, and Boston defender Bianca St-Georges accidentally backheeled it to the Gotham star for an easy strike.

Gonzalez had 13 goals last year for the reigning NWSL champion Gotham.

St-Georges later earned her second yellow card in the 77th minute, forcing the Legacy to play with 10 women the rest of the way.

Bay 2, Summit 1

Joelle Anderson’s tiebreaking goal capped off a wild 31 minutes and proved to be the game winner as host Bay FC spoiled the first game in Denver Summit FC history with a win in San Jose.

Alex Pfeiffer got the scoring going in the eighth minute to give Bay a 1-0 lead. Melissa Kossler evened it up in the 20th minute with Denver’s first goal but that momentum was quickly wiped away when Janine Sonis was shown a red card for violent conduct in the 27th minute, leaving the Summit short-handed the rest of the way.

Four minutes later, Pfeiffer struck again, this time dribbling through the Summit defense and finding Anderson just above the center of the box. Anderson immediately sent it to the goal and beat Abby Smith in the bottom-left corner.

Courage 2, Racing 1

Ashley Sanchez netted a brace, her second goal the difference in the game as North Carolina edged Racing Louisville FC in Cary, N.C.

Sanchez’s first goal came in the 29th minute, a right-footed shot off a cross from Payton Linnehan that beat Jordyn Bloomer. Sarah Weber answered in first-half stoppage time when Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan’s clearing pass was instead corralled by Emma Sears just outside the box. Sears charged toward the goal then found Weber standing wide open in front of the net.

Sanchez answered in the 86th minute for the Courage when her ball she sent toward the net was instead immediately deflected by a Racing defender, sending the ball high into the air and over the head of a leaping Bloomer for the goal.

Current 2, Royals 1

Host Kansas City scored twice in the final 33 minutes, once off a back-heel pass and the other on an impressive individual effort, to take down Utah.

Tatumn Milazzo got the visitors on the board in the 35th minute with a header from a pass from Cloe Lacasse off a corner kick. Utah then stood tall on defense, but the Royals could not keep the Current out of the net for long.

Croix Bethune, playing her first game with Kansas City after two seasons with Washington, evened the match in the 57th minute when Kayla Sharples set found her in front of the net with a one-touch heel kick off a pass from just inside midfield.

Ally Sentnor then netted the winner in the 69th minute when she dribbled from just outside the top-left corner of the goal box to the middle of the penalty area, then sent a right-footed kick to the right of a diving Mia Justus and into the net.

Dash 1, Wave 0

Makenzy Robbe, who spent the previous four seasons with San Diego, scored in her first game against her former team and Houston weathered 18 minutes of total stoppage time to win on the road.

Robbe’s goal was itself in stoppage time, as she took a pass from Maggie Graham in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, then sent the ball across the goal box and past DiDi Haracic into the bottom-left corner of the net.

The Wave had 19 shots to the Dash’s five — and held a 9-2 advantage in shots on goal — but Houston goalie Jane Campbell made numerous big saves, including a leaping punch that sent a shot over the crossbar in the 63rd minute.

–Field Level Media