WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Blazing second half gives Duke 73-56 win over State

By Jake Lloyd

Jan 21, 2009

Kyle Singler couldn't really put into words what was said at halftime.

Duke had just suffered through its worst offensive half of the season, a half that featured 29 percent shooting and resulted in a four-point deficit to North Carolina State heading into the locker room.

"A little bit (was said), but you know, I don't know how to explain it," Singler said of the halftime message.

Whatever was said, Duke's offense woke up during the second half. And behind 76.9-percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, the second-ranked Blue Devils (17-1, 4-0 ACC) came back to defeat the Wolfpack 73-56.

Gerald Henderson led the charge, scoring 17 of his 21 points after the break, and Singler scored 14 of his 17 during Duke's 20-of-26 second-half shooting performance.

Their offensive performances were needed, considering the Wolfpack (10-6, 1-3) hung strong until the final five minutes. Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley scored 15 points each for N.C. State, which led 26-22 at halftime and didn't give up its advantage for the first 10½ minutes of the second half.

But when Nolan Smith (13 points) made back-to-back 3-pointers – while Costner and McCauley were on the bench – to give Duke the lead 52-49 with 9:27 left, the Devils were on their way to their ninth straight victory and 12 consecutive over the Wolfpack in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Credit Henderson for sparking Duke's offensive explosion. With the rest of Duke's offense struggling, the junior scored 11 of the Devils' first 16 second-half points to keep them in the game during a stretch when Costner and McCauley scored 13 consecutive Wolfpack points.

Henderson got it going by making quick drives to the basket for two three-point-play chances, one of which he converted. After that, N.C. State's defenders backed off a bit, giving him more room to elevate and sink his midrange jumper.

"My biggest thing (at first) was getting to the foul line because my jumper wasn't really falling in the first half," said Henderson, who also tied a career high with five steals. "My biggest thing was: be aggressive, attack the rim.

"And then they started having to play off of me. When they started playing off of me, I was able to knock the (jump) shot down."

Henderson's aggressiveness opened things up a bit for his teammates, specifically Smith and Singler, who shot a combined 1-for-8 in the first half. After Smith knocked down his crucial 3-pointers, Singler scored on a pair of jumpers sandwiched around two free throws to extend Duke's lead to 58-53 with 6:43 remaining.

Singler's ability to score was impressive, considering he picked up his fourth foul with 7:59 to play. Coach Mike Krzyzewski didn't think long about keeping in the player who leads the Devils in points, rebounds, assists and steals.

"I mentioned to him after the game, I said, 'I left you in because you're really good and I trust you,'" Krzyzewski said. "Many games are won from the 8-minute mark to the 4-minute mark.

"Everyone sees the last four minutes; if we don't win those (previous four minutes), we're not going to win the game."

That turned out to be the key stretch Tuesday. After turning the ball over five times in the game's opening five minutes — and falling behind 10-1 — the Wolfpack did an excellent job of taking care of it for a 30-minute stretch.

With point guards Farnold Degand and Julius Mays protecting the ball, N.C. State committed just nine turnovers from the 15:04 mark of the first half until the 5:07 mark of the second half.

And because of that, and a dominating rebounding performance — State out-rebounded the Devils 36-25 — the Wolfpack found itself down just 58-55 after a runner by Courtney Fells.

Things then fell apart for N.C. State, however. Leading 60-55, Duke's David McClure made a steal near mid-court and fed Henderson for a thunderous fast-break dunk. Coach Sidney Lowe tried to turn the momentum with a 30-second timeout, but Degand committed his second consecutive turnover, and Henderson fed the cutting McClure for a dunk and a 64-55 lead.

Jon Scheyer's only field goal of the game, a 3-pointer from the corner, put Duke up 67-56 with 2:19 left and essentially iced the game. The Devils ended the back-and-forth contest on a 15-1 spurt.

"I thought we played about 33 minutes of quality basketball," Lowe said. "After coming out and not being able to make a shot, I thought the guys did a great job of hanging in there and finishing off that first half really strong. It was a great defensive effort.

"(In) the second half, they just kept coming at us. We turned the ball over too many times to beat a club like Duke."

N.C. State finished with 19 turnovers, including five in the final 5:07. Taking care of the ball continues to be a problem for the Wolfpack, who entered the game averaging 18.5 miscues in conference play.

But against a Duke team that brought its pressure defense out near the "Coach K Court" emblem near mid-court — and also threw half-court and full-court traps at the Wolfpack — N.C. State's players calmed the storm for most of the night.

"From the (ACC) teams that we've played … State can play with any of the teams," Krzyzewski said. "Those two guys (Costner and McCauley) are really good. They're not good. They're really good.

"And I think they're getting more solid point-guard play."

But when Duke ties for the best-shooting-percentage second half of Krzyzewski's 29-year tenure in Durham, it's hard to defeat the Devils — especially in Cameron.

Krzyzewski didn't think Duke took bad shots during the first 20 minutes, but he was upset that the Wolfpack blocked three shots right by the rim. In the second half, when the trio of Henderson, Singler and Smith combined for 41 of the Devils' 51 points, not a single Duke shot was touched.

"Our offense, as bad as it was in the first half, it was that good in the second half," Krzyzewski said.