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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 6:28 p.m., Monday, November 19, 2007

No. 13 Duke tops Princeton, 83-61, in Maui hoops

By JIM O’CONNELL
Associated Press Basketball Writer

LAHAINA — Freshman forward Kyle Singler had 21 points and 12 rebounds and No. 13 Duke kept its perfect record on Maui intact with an 83-61 victory over Princeton tonight in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Duke, which won the title here in 1992, 1997 and 2001, is 10-0 on the island and six of the wins have been by 20 points or more. The Blue Devils had that big a lead against Princeton seven minutes into this game.

Gerald Henderson had 12 points and Jon Scheyer added 10 for the Blue Devils (3-0), who will play the winner of the Arizona State-Illinois game in the semifinals tomorrow.

Lincoln Gunn had 16 points to lead the Tigers (2-1).

Princeton scored the first basket of the game and then it was all Duke.

The Blue Devils went on a 12-0 run after that with Singler scoring all but two of the points.

Princeton got its second field goal and then it really got out of hand in a hurry. Duke went on a 19-0 run that made it 31-4 with 10:20 to play in the half.

The run had a little bit of everything for the highlight reel: a four-point play by Scheyer, a thunderous dunk by Henderson on an alley-oop pass from Nolan Smith and a strip steal by Greg Paulus right after a Duke turnover.

Princeton missed nine of its first 11 shots and committed an uncharacteristic six turnovers as Duke built the 27-point lead.

The Blue Devils twice went up by 30 points in the first half, the second time at 44-14 on a jumper by Scheyer with 6:30 left. The Tigers closed the half with a 7-2 run to make it 52-31.

The Blue Devils shot 56.1 percent in the half (23-for-41) and outrebounded the Tigers 22-11. The closing run allowed Princeton to finish the half shooting 43.5 percent (10-for-23).

The Blue Devils got the lead to 30 once in the second half, 73-43 on a 3-pointer by Taylor King with 10:04 to play.

Duke improved to 17-1 all-time against Princeton.

Duke is 85-10 in November under coach Mike Krzyzewski and 36-2 in the month since 2000.