| Duke Blue Devils Basketball News: |
| Duke improved to 14-1 against nonconference foes this season, and beat St. John's for the fourth straight time. The Blue Devils also won their second game at Madison Square Garden this season, including a victory over Gonzaga on Dec. 21.
Nelson hit two free throws with 16:14 left to give Duke a 41-16 lead. After Hamilton's 3 with 15:51 remaining, Paulus responded with one 25 seconds later to restore the 25-point advantage. St. John's then began chipping away, using a 10-2 run to pull to 46-29 on Mason's putback with 9:35 to go. "What we talked about at halftime was playing with more pride and more urgency and getting through those screens," Roberts said. "We did compete much harder in the second half. We just can't get ourselves down that much that early." Paulus hit his fifth 3 just 24 seconds later to push the lead back to 20. The Red Storm had an 8-0 run, the last four points on free throws by Mason, to pull to 51-39 with 4:15 left. "We played brilliantly in the first half where we won the game and we weren't in danger," Krzyzewski said. "But I would have liked to have played better in the second half, obviously." McClure made a layup with 2:41 to go to push Duke's lead to 55-41. Scheyer hit a pair of technical free throws 29 seconds later when St. John's was issued a delay of game because two T-shirts were thrown on the court by fans during a timeout. "I don't think they should throw stuff on the court but they stayed behind us and tried to get us back in the game," Hamilton said. Scheyer added a layup to push the Blue Devils' lead to 18 with 1:27 remaining. There were two sets of double technicals. The first came with 16:34 left in the game when there was pushing and shoving under the basket, and Duke's Josh McRoberts and St. John's Aaron Spears were whistled for the violations. A second was called on Nelson and Eugene Lawrence with 11:43 to go. The Red Storm's Qa'rraan Calhoun also received one early in the second half. |
| More Duke Blue Devils Basketball News: |
| Duke plays host tonight to Virginia, a team that has lost its first three league games. Two of those losses came in Charlottesville, Va.
Duke then hits the road for games at Miami and Florida State. Neither one of those teams was picked in the upper half of the league, although Miami is off to a surprisingly strong start. With three other ACC teams ranked in the top eight nationally, the Blue Devils figure to eventually face a difficult stretch. |
| Related Links: | |