WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Duke advances to ACC Tournament championship game with 67-61 win over Maryland

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 14, 2009

Jon Scheyer scored 22 points and No. 9 Duke beat Maryland 67-61 Saturday afternoon to advance to the championship game of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2006.

Kyle Singler added 14 points and Nolan Smith had 10 for the Blue Devils (27-6), who will play No. 22 Florida State at 1 p.m. Sunday. They will play for their 17th title, which would match North Carolina for the most of any ACC team.

Florida State (25-8) is gunning for its first tournament championship.

Eric Hayes scored 21 points and Greivis Vasquez added 14 for the Terrapins (20-13), who were bidding to become the first team seeded lower than sixth to win the tournament. Instead, they’ll sweat it out Sunday as they wait to see if they’ll be selected as an at-large team to the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils went 3-0 against Maryland this season and will attempt to become the first No. 3 seed to win the tournament since they did it in 2005.

The game was ugly throughout, with neither team able to establish an offensive rhythm. But Duke led 32-30 at halftime and took the lead for good, 35-34, on a 3-pointer by Scheyer with 17 minutes, 26 seconds remaining — and the Blue Devils never relinquished the advantage, gradually building on it.

Their bench was a huge reason for that. Smith, in his second game back from a mild concussion he suffered at Maryland Feb 25, assisted on back-to-back 3s by Gerald Henderson and Scheyer against Maryland’s 3-2 zone to give Duke a 50-43 lead.

Then Scheyer and bench player David McClure scored fast-break layups sandwiched around a left-handed layup by McClure to extend the margin to 56-43 with 5:35 remaining.

Eric Hayes scored 11 straight Maryland points in the final 1:19, but he couldn’t get the Terrapins closer than four, 65-61, with 16.2 seconds left.

Duke was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute.

The teams played an even first half, with neither team scoring more than three consecutive baskets — and that just happened once. The game was tied three times, there were nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five.

There was, however, plenty of explosive action — even when the clock was stopped. After Vasquez was whistled for a push-off foul against Greg Paulus, the two exchanged words and Vasquez walked toward Paulus before being restrained by a teammate.

Several first-half calls were booed by the fans, and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had some harsh words for the officials after he thought Maryland got away with an offensive foul.