No. 2 Duke downs Davidson

Staff photo by Chuck Liddy

DURHAM — Duke wants to go where Davidson went last March — deep into the NCAA Tournament. Davidson wants to get back to the Southern Conference schedule.

No. 2 Duke outclassed Davidson and star Stephen Curry for a 79-67 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night.

Curry got his points, a game-high 29, and led a second-half charge, but the Blue Devils held the Wildcats off for their 13th win in 14 games.

Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer each scored 22 points to lead the Blue Devils, who dropped the Wildcats (10-3) to 2-3 against major conference opponents.

"They expose you, they undress you," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said of Duke. "And unless you stand in the center of the ring and fight, you [will] never be able to be successful against Duke."

Duke built up a 25-point lead in the second half before Curry and Wildcats fought back. Andrew Lovedale supported Curry with 15 points, including a layup at the 3:52 mark to cut Duke's lead to 69-61.

Duke responded with an endless possession — two huge offensive rebounds — that ended with a pair of free throws by Lance Thomas to push the margin back to double digits.

It stayed there for the rest of the game. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called Thomas' free throws the "biggest points of the game."

"Those two free throws were huge" Krzyzewski said. "He misses, they come down and hit a 3, and we could lose that ballgame."

The Devils' defense wouldn't let them lose, forcing 17 turnovers and holding Davidson to 4 of 17 from 3-point range.

Coming off a defensive clinic against Virginia Tech, where Duke held the Hokies to 13 points in the second half, the Blue Devils applied pressure from the start on Curry, the nation's leading scorer.

Curry went nearly 14 minutes at the start of the game without scoring. Switching on every screen, every fake by Curry, Duke used as many as six different players to defend Curry.

"They really pressure the ball," Curry said. "They took us out of our offense. I didn't get my rhythm until the second half."

Curry finished the first half with eight points and Davidson trailed 37-24. Duke opened the second half with eight straight points and a 14-2 run. Duke ran it out to 63-38 at the 11:54 mark.

"We got that lead," Coach K said. "And it looked like we got tired."

After falling behind by 25, Davidson scored the next 11 points, seven by Curry. He picked Greg Paulus' pocket to set up a breakaway layup and followed that up with a 3-pointer to make it 63-49.

Duke's offense stalled after getting to 69 points. Lovedale, not Curry, led the late run, with three of his four blocks and five of Davidson's next seven points.

Scheyer made sure Duke didn’t stall again. After Thomas’ free throws, he scored six straight points, including a 3 with 52 seconds left to put Davidson away for good.