WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Game blog: Duke holds off Davidson 79-67

By Tim Hall

Jan 7, 2009

9:12 p.m., Duke wins:  Final score is 79-67, and Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler both had 22 points.  Curry finished with 29.  Next up, an easy one at home against Georgetown.

9:05 p.m., Not enough time left:  Curry will most likely make three at the line here after he got fouled shooting from beyond the arc.  Jon Scheyer has 21 in this game with a big 17 point second half.  He hit a big three in the last set to make it a 13 point lead.  Curry has 29 in the game as he hit all of his free throws.  Duke is still up ten with 33 seconds left.

9:02 p.m., Duke is managing it well:  Lance Thomas hit two free throws of all people and Jon Scheyer hit one out of two.  They lead 72-61 with under a minute to play.

8:57 p.m., Crunch time:  Duke is up 69-61 with 2:41 left to play.  Duke will be at the foul line in a one-and-one situation.

8:55 p.m., Didn't think even this could be done:  Andrew Lovedale is keeping his team in it, really helping Curry with the comeback.  He made a nice move to the rim and has 15 points, and Davidson is only down eight points.  This building is rocking.  I admit I was wrong, I didn't think the Wildcats could come back from a 25 point second half deficit.

8:51 p.m., Davidson tries to make it interesting:  Curry hasn't scored in a few minutes but Duke is keeping so much attention on him after his spurt that he is finding open teammates.  Duke leads by twelve with a under six minutes to play.  Gerald Henderson is on Curry at the moment.

8:45 p.m., Big surge for Duke:  Lovedale missed a bunny that would have made it an 11 point game.  Then Curry fouled Scheyer as he hit a jumper and all of the sudden it is back to a 16 point Duke lead at 68-52.  That was a big five point swing.  There is 7:36 left to play in this one.

8:32 p.m., Just enjoy Curry:  The game is a blow-out, so at least enjoy a great player at work on the team that is getting blown out.  Curry just split the entire Duke team and took it to the rim for a tomahawk one-handed slam.  He can do that.  You just don't think he can because he such a great shooter.  But Curry can get up and jam with the best of them.  Duke only leads 63-49 right now.  As I am writing this entry Davidson is going on a rediculous run.  Something clicked in Curry's head and he doesn't care how many guys are guarding him now.  This always seems to happen sometime in the second half when he has had a slow start.  It's a good thing Duke had a 25 point lead in the second half but this is an amazing run the Cats are on.  Curry has 21 points.

8:21 p.m., Would take a miracle:  This would be the Georgetown and Gonzaga comeback combined if Davidson came back and took this one.  Duke leads 51-26 with 15:54 left in the game.  Duke is playing so well it is just taking the confidence out of the Wildcats, you can see it in their eyes each time something else goes wrong.

8:15 p.m., Duke is too much:  I said earlier in the week that this game would be a twenty point blow-out and it now has turned into that.  I think this is just a case of one of the three best teams in the country busting up on a top 35 team at their home court.  These Wildcats just don't have enough horses to go up against these super-talented teams that play great defense.  Purude was a great defensive team and they totally shut down Davidson.  With 17:14 to go in the game Duke leads 47-26.  Curry has 8 points.  Kyle Singler leads all with 17.  Curry is great, but these top teams are figuring out how to deal with it better than last year.

7:54 p.m., Duke easy lead at half:  And it got bigger when Brian Zoubek tipped one in as time expired to give his team a 37-24 lead.  Curry was impressive in the final seven minutes as he scored all 8 of his points in that span.  I have a Cameron Dork sitting behind me that isn't doing a great job in the creativity department tonight.  After Curry hit his first shot, he looked at him and shouted, "What do you think you are special or something?"  Yeah man, that was a good one.  I hope you are here all night long.

7:45 p.m., Duke pulling away:  Right now this team just looks too athletic for Davidson to stay with.  Curry even picked up four points in the  last few minutes but the lead got wider for Duke.  Devils are up 29-16 with 3:43 in the half left.  The Wildcats would love to keep it near a ten point game at the half.

7:34 p.m., Still no points:  Duke is up 18-12 with 7:41 left in the first game.  Curry cannot find a rhythm shooting the ball.  Duke is doing a good job defending him with Thomas and McClure.  Bryant Barr is going to half to step up and hit a bi rage of threes to help out Curry in this game.  Curry is 0-3 from the field.

7:30 p.m., Good defense on Curry:  But right now Duke is committing a lot of turnovers and player control fouls.  It's on the other end of the court so it's tough to tell if they are good charge calls but it looks like Davidson is getting into position.  Curry is still scoreless and the Devils are not doing what Loyola MD did, in doubling him even far away from the hoop.  Lance Thomas and David McClure had taken turns guarding him, both very nicely.

7:19 p.m., No Curry:  It's just surprising every time you see him on the bench because you expect him to play all forty minutes.  He has been out for the past two or three minutes but now is back on the floor before the 12 minutes break.  Right now Kyle Singler has two three's while Greg Paulus knocked down another.  Duke leads 16-10 with 11:29 left in the half.  Curry is still scoreless as he just had a three rattle out.  His dad is the most well tempered fan you will ever see.  He just stands there with his arms folded never changing expressions, just the way he played I suppose.

7:12 p.m., Curry yet to have a look:  Early in this game Duke is doing a great job of defending Steph Curry.  I don't think he has even taken a shot.  Kyle Singler has been on him mostly in the first four minutes.  Duke is in front early leading 9-5 with under 16 minutes to play in the opening half.  This building is jam packed, the students were out in their tents camping for good seats to this game.  Mike Tirico is in the house with Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy for the announcer swap.  I know Dick Vitale was upset he had to miss this one!