| DURHAM — Carlos Boozer took the pass from Jason
Williams midway through the second half and went up for an easy dunk from point-blank
range.
The ball slipped out of Boozer’s left
hand and hit high off the glass. It eventually made its way into the hoop, of course
— remember the shot was released from Boozer’s soft hands.
Boozer hit 13 of 14 shots to score a
career-high 32 points, and the top-ranked Blue Devils shot 63 percent to cruise to a
108-71 victory against 24th-ranked N.C. State on Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke led 49-39 at the break, and the Blue
Devils hit 69 percent of their shots in the second half to blow the game open.
“In the second half, it was just a
combination of how we were swarming on defense — it was just beautiful to
watch,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
“Then we turned it into some
spectacular fast breaks. Our guards made some beautiful passes.”
Boozer was on the receiving end of many of
the dishes from Williams, Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing, who each had five assists for Duke
(23-1, 11-1 ACC).
Boozer failed on his first shot attempt of
the game but didn’t misfire again. He scored eight points in the final 5:35 of the
first half, including a putback at the buzzer to give Duke a 10-point edge going into the
locker room.
“They were trying to help out on
Jason, so I was wide open most of the time,” Boozer said. “I just had to put the
ball in the hole.”
Said Williams, “He’s such an easy
target to find. Other teams are so worried about me that it leaves Carlos open.”
Boozer’s pinpoint accuracy continued
in the second half, when he hit all six of his shots to help Duke open up an 86-60 lead
with 8:47 left.
Duke forward Mike Dunleavy said that, out
of the 20 times Boozer touched the ball, the junior center scored via a field goal or free
throw 19 times.
The Blue Devils finished with 62 points in
the paint, compared to 38 for N.C. State.
“I think we would have needed a
seventh-year senior to guard him tonight,”State coach Herb Sendek said of Boozer.
The Wolfpack (18-7, 7-5) stayed close with
the Blue Devils for the first 17 minutes.
State, which had tremendous success using
backdoor cuts against Duke’s aggressive defense, shot out to a 13-6 lead and trailed
only 40-37 with 2:45 left in the first half.
Former West Rowan star Scooter Sherrill,
who scored eight points, got into the act, cutting behind Williams for a two-handed dunk
with 11:38 remaining before the break.
“Duke puts tremendous pressure on you
and forces you to make plays against a defense that’s been suffocating,” Sendek
said.“I thought our guys executed the game plan fairly well.”
N.C. State’s Anthony Grundy paced the
Pack with 12 first-half points and finished with 16. Ilian Evtimov, who got free several
times in the second half, also had 16 points.
Boozer carried the Blue Devils, but
Williams quietly had 20 points, while Dahntay Jones (14 points), Dunleavy (12 points and
nine boards) and Ewing (11 points) all reached double figures.
The Blue Devils, who made 42 of 67
field-goal attempts, hadn’t shot so well since making 64.3 percent of their shots
against Notre Dame on Nov. 26, 1998.
“I said before the game that there are
the No. 1-ranked teams in sports any given year, and then there are awesome No. 1-ranked
teams,”Sendek said. “Tonight, we witnessed an awesome basketball team on all
cylinders.”
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NOTES: Sherrill hit all four of his free
throws and has hit 18 in a row over the last three games. He had to leave the game after
suffering a bruise to his left arm with 9:56 left, but he returned less than four minutes
later. ... West Rowan coach Mike Gurley had the best seat in the house, watching from the
first row behind the Wolfpack bench. ... Larry Rose, Ted Valentine and Duke Edsall worked
the Valentine’s Day game.
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com . |
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