Devils start season with decisive win

DURHAM — Eighth-ranked Duke isn’t a well-oiled machine yet but, even lightly lubricated, the Blue Devils had enough to turn away Presbyterian College 80-49 in the first round of Coaches vs. Cancer Classic  action at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday.

Duke (1-0) will play Georgia Southern (1-0), a 65-63 winner over Houston (0-1) in the early game, tonight at 9 p.m., again at Cameron. Presbyterian (0-1) will play Houston at 6 p.m.

Presbyterian, in just its second NCAA Division I season, trailed 46-22 at halftime but had a good stretch when it outscored Duke 19-17 in the first 12 minutes of the second half.

The Blue Devils led 62-41 with 9:59 left in the game before turning up the juice and going on a 12-0 run. The Duke crowd, filling more seats than last week’s exhibition game versus Lenoir-Rhyne, had the most fun when Duke went to a full-court press after a media timeout with 10 minutes left in the game.

Duke sophomore guard Nolan Smith forced two turnovers on back-to-back out-of-bounds plays, scoring on one with junior forward Lance Thomas completing a three-point play on the other.

Duke wants to force teams into mistakes, not play long defensive possessions. But Presbyterian patiently ran its offense and forced the Devils to do just that during the slow-moving first 11 minutes.

Duke led 17-9 when Presbyterian guard Josh Johnson hit a shot with 8:38 left in the half to cut it to 17-11. Duke, switching to a halfcourt trap, began playing disruptive defense.

Smith, who finished with 13 points, stole a pass and scored on the other end. Martynas Pocius took a charge and Duke turned that into two Singler free throws. After Singler, who had 12 first-half points, took a charge, Scheyer, who also dropped 12 by halftime, drove and scored.

Those buckets were key only because they came after Presbyterian had turned the ball over. Duke scored 19 straight unanswered points while forcing six turnovers during a 5-minute stretch.

With 3:34 left in the half. Duke led 36-11.

Al’Lonzo Coleman, who hails from Charlotte, did a good job against some high-profile big men for Presbyterian. Coleman kept attacking in the post while scoring 13 points before fouling out with 6:35 left in the game.

One of the big men he didn’t have to contend with was Duke freshman Miles Plumlee. Plumlee had a great preseason and started the game but a foul and a couple mental mistakes put him on the bench after just six minutes of playing time in the first half.

Thomas, backing up Plumlee for now after starting most games last season, scored 12 points off the bench.

Neither team shot well from long-range with the college 3-point line sitting at 20 feet, 9 inches — a foot longer than it was the previous 20 seasons.

Duke hit two of seven before halftime; Presbyterian just one of eight.

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy