Battier leads Duke into Final Four

PHILADELPHIA— Shane Battier sensed that his team needed a boost Saturday night, so the senior leader did what he always does.

He pecked — er — picked the Blue Devils up with a quick speech after a timeout.

“Sometimes you lose focus of the fact that you’re playing for the Final Four. I was just being the good mother hen and reminding them,”Battier said. “I let my guys know that we’re not saving anything for tomorrow.”

Duke did, however, save a little something for next weekend. The Blue Devils advanced to the Final Four in Minneapolis thanks to a 79-69 win over Southern Cal in the East Region championship game.

They’ll see a familiar foe in Saturday’s national semifinal — Atlantic Coast Conference squad Maryland, which boasts a win over Duke this season.

“It’s kind of weird, but I think it’s fitting,”Duke forward Mike Dunleavy said. “They’re playing great basketball right now and you always want the best teams in the Final Four, and Maryland is in that category.

“With two teams in the Final Four, we have a whole lot of bragging rights.”

For the second time in three nights, the Blue Devils had to beat another conference that was pretty pleased with itself. On Thursday, the Pac-10’s UCLA Bruins lost to Duke.

Southern Cal (24-10), the fourth-place team from that league and a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, wasn’t even supposed to be in this game tonight. But the Trojans upset No. 2 Kentucky, and found themselves just a few plays away from knocking off No. 1 Duke as well.

“I thought we were in the game for a while. They just keep coming at you,”Trojans head coach Henry Bibby said. “I don’t know if there’s anyone that can beat Duke out there.”

Southern Cal couldn’t manage the feat because every time the Trojans pulled within striking distance, the Blue Devils (33-4) answered.

“They don’t do anything special on offense, they don’t run any tricky plays,”USC guard Brandon Granville said.“They just make plays.”

“That’s what the No. 1 team in the nation does,”added guard Jeff Trepagnier.

Two of the best players in the nation, guard Jason Williams and Battier, dominated the first half. The duo combined for 33 of its team’s 43 points and built a 12-point margin early in the half before the Devil offense went cold and USC took over.

Duke went five minutes without a field goal as the Trojans forced three turnovers in the post and got another three from the half-court trap.

When Duke tried to trap, USC center David Scalabrine took advantage of the wandering Battier and nailed back-to-back 3s. That cut the halftime margin to 43-38.

Battier and Williams had taken 21 of Duke’s 29 shots.

“We just went with the hot hands,”Battier said. “Jason and I both had great matchups in the first half and we exposed that. We knew in the second half people would hit big shots.”

USC came out of the locker room and missed six of its first seven shots. Duke couldn’t pull away, though, as the Trojans blocked three shots down low, contributing to a string of seven straight Blue Devil misses.

The Trojans’ downfall came when its cold streak continued and Duke’s ended. After Sam Clancy connected for a putback at the 15:07 mark, USC missed its next six shots.

In that six-minute span, Williams and Chris Duhon hit 3-pointers and the point guard fed center Casey Sanders for a slam to spark a 12-3 run.

Bibby called a timeout to stop the surge, but the damage was done with his team trailing 60-48. USC never closed within seven over the final 10 minutes.

“They really get after you, box out and contest all the shots,”Trepagnier said. “We weren’t executing on offense. We had a lot of 1-on-1 plays and we’re not like that.”

Neither are the Blue Devils a two-man team, although Williams (28 points) and Battier (20) earned the only Duke pots on the all-tournament team.

When the Trojans pulled within single digits, Williams hit Duhon for another open 3-pointer. Duhon’s triple at the 3:01 mark, again off a Williams pass, extended the lead to 75-64, sinking the Trojans’ comeback hopes.

“For about three or four games, we’ve been watching him (Williams) penetrate,”Krzyzewski said. “Instead of watching our two best players play, we actually had four double-figure scorers tonight. That’s who we’ve been all year.”

Now, Duke continues on its mission from the entire year: being the best team in the nation.

“The Final Four has four regional champions. That is what makes it an amazing event,”Krzyzewski said. “I have been fortunate to have players get me through the regionals, and to see a player like Duhon drive us into the Final Four is very gratifying.”

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NOTES: Krzyzewski heads for his ninth Final Four while at Duke. He’s 9-1 in regional final games, with the only loss coming on Kentucky’s dramatic comeback in 1998. … USC shot 33 percent from the field in the second half. … After Duke turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, the Devils committed just three in the final 20 minutes, all in the final two minutes.