Staff photo by Chuck Liddy
• Photo gallery: Duke 86, Binghamton 62
• First Look: See 111 raw images from the game
GREENSBORO — Binghamton appeared to find a few new fans at Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday night — and they were wearing Carolina blue.
But despite the Tar Heel faithful who stuck around from the first session to cheer against rival Duke, the second-seeded Blue Devils blew out the No. 15 Bearcats 86-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Duke will play seventh-seeded Texas, which beat No. 10 seed Minnesota, on Saturday in the second round. The game will tip off 30 minutes following the conclusion of UNC-LSU, which begins at 5:45 p.m.
Duke, which led 45-34 at halftime, finally pulled away by hitting some 3-point shots. After making only 2 of its 8 attempts from behind the arc before the break, the Devils buried three in the first five minutes to take a 60-36 lead.
Six Blue Devils finished in double figures, led by Jon Scheyer's 15.
Binghamton, the America East Conference champion playing in its first NCAA tournament, opened the game with leads of 2-0 and 4-2 on shots from Malik Alvin and Tiki Mayben. But after D.J. Rivera buried a 3-pointer to cut Duke's lead to 10-7, the Blue Devils sped on a 9-0 run, which included two buckets from freshman Elliot Williams and a 3-pointer from Kyle Singler, to give itself a 19-7 cushion before Binghamton scored again.
The Blue Devils led 26-12 when Binghamton drew a bench technical; Nolan Smith buried one of two free throws t
o give Duke its largest lead of the half, 27-12, with 9:07 left.
But the Bearcats whittled back, cutting their deficit to 35-28 when Mayben buried a three-pointer with 3:41 left. Then 37-31 when Brandon Herbert made a 3-pointer.
They never got any closer.
Duke is making its 14th straight NCAA tournament appearance, and despite all of the light blue shirts in the crowd, the royal blue presence and lungs were strong, as the cheers usually overwhelmed the boos.
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at 
Comments
Who cares its Dook they'll be home in a week.
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 23:49 — echllcDook sucks, they should go home and lick their ACC tourney trophy. And for all you Dook fans, you won the ACC tournament hence the reason you're a #2 seed you DID NOT WIN THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP. Dang, I thought yall be smarter than that.
Actually the team that wins
Fri, 03/20/2009 - 01:35 — richardfocActually the team that wins the ACC Tournament is recognized as the ACC Champion. Dang, I'm not surprised that you are that dumb.
ok class
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 23:06 — gvillegatrraise your hand if you know what game today was taken out of the hands of one particular team b/c the refs called them for a foul every time they decided to breathe?
i'm not saying DUIke would lose at all. just let the game be decided on the floor. it is unecessary to allow the refs to dictate this particular game. at least Binghamton can knock down the three ball ....