CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - If Duke was weary playing for the second time in three days, it sure didn’t show Saturday afternoon at Boston College.
At a time when they could have been wearing down, the Blue Devils scored 10 of the final 12 points of the first half. No. 10-ranked Duke rode that end-of-half surge and held on to win 66-63 in front of a sellout crowd of 8,606 at Conte Forum to strengthen its hold on first place in the ACC.
Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer each scored 21 points for Duke (19-4, 7-2 ACC), which has four consecutive wins over ACC opponents. Smith hit a shot clock buzzer-beating 3-pointer and Scheyer made a 3-pointer and two layups during the final four minutes of the first half as Duke built a 35-25 halftime lead.
Boston College (12-11, 3-6), which had a week off to prepare for Duke, got its fast break going to score the first six points of the second half. The Eagles cut into the deficit in the final minute by putting Duke freshmen Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins on the free throw line.
Kelly and Dawkins each made one of two free throws, and Boston College trailed by just two points after two free throws by Corey Raji with 27.6 seconds left. Nolan Smith increased the lead to four with a pair of free throws, but Reggie Jackson hit a 3-pointer over Kelly from the top of the key with 15.1 seconds left to cut the lead to 64-63.
Scheyer made two free throws, and Joe Trapani missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Comments
Scheduling Fiasco
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 17:42 — wi94rc2074They did do a good job of hanging on. It just amazes me that the ACC can schedule a team to do a Thursday night ACC game and a Saturday afternoon ACC game while the ACC opponent is sitting at home waiting all week for the Saturday game. That is just nuts! I guess the scheduling coordinator for the ACC is catching heat, and rightfully so. The conference needs to do better. The Big East has a great plan in doing the Saturday/Monday conference games. All teams are on an equal footing. Just one more example of how the ACC has lost its edge since expansion.
Scheduling
Sun, 02/07/2010 - 03:56 — LetsGoPittNot really, lots of Big East teams play Sat/mon games. No different than Thurs/Sat games...one day off for travel. Yeah, sometime teams catch a break and don't play for a week, and sometimes those team schedule non-conference games in between. I think too much is being made of this scheduling. I mean, the Big XII has been around longer than the 12 team ACC, and I have never read about scheduling problems with them.
Maybe this year the ACC goofed on a couple of games, but hey, if you're a great team, you beat your opponent no matter when or where you play.
LOOKED OK TO ME
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 16:44 — foreverdukeI didn't think they looked tired no more than Boston College. The main thing is that they got the win. I hope it proves that they can get road wins. I thought once again the calls were not that great but as long as its done equally you deal with it.
Good win for Duke. Hope they can stay at the top. Proud to be a Blue Devil fan.
GO Duke!
The boys did look a little
Sat, 02/06/2010 - 16:26 — duke_blueThe boys did look a little tired in the final minutes. They were definitely getting out rebounded. They did a damn good job holding on and making some key freethrows.