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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 8, 2009

No. 2 Duke holds on, 79-67 college basketball

Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. — Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler scored 22 points apiece and No. 2 Duke held off Davidson and Stephen Curry, 79-67, last night.

The Blue Devils (13-1), who never trailed, outscored the Wildcats 20-7 to start the second half and withstood a late comeback attempt to win their 67th straight nonconference home game.

Curry, the nation's leading scorer, scored 29 points for Davidson (10-3), with 21 of those coming in the second half as he tried to rally his team from a 25-point deficit.

"All was good in Krzyzewskiville. And then, all of a sudden, the clouds came," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The story's going to end bad. But you don't win every round against good teams. They're going to make you look bad, stop you, or you're going to stop them and we stopped them a little bit more than they stopped us."

Curry scored seven in a 90-second span that came during a 14-2 spurt midway through the half to help the Wildcats close within 13.

"After they made that big run in the second half and got up 20-plus, we didn't panic," Curry said. "We've been in that situation before — kind of too often now — and we just got back to hittin' singles, as coach would say, and making the easy play."

Davidson then pulled to 69-61 on Andrew Lovedale's basket in the post with 3:53 left, but couldn't get any closer.

No. 3 North Carolina 108, College of Charleston 70: Tyler Hansbrough scored 24 points, Deon Thompson added 15 and the Tar Heels (14-1) bounced back from their first loss by rolling past the Cougars (10-3) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 11 Syracuse 85, DePaul 68: Andy Rautins scored 17 points to lead five teammates in double figures and the Orange (15-1, 3-0 Big East) made eight 3-pointers in coasting past the Blue Demons (8-8, 0-3) at Syracuse, N.Y for their sixth straight victory.

Gonzaga 80, No. 15 Tennessee 79: Matt Bouldin finished with 26 points and Austin Daye hit a 3-pointer and four free throws in overtime to help the visiting Zags (9-4) beat the Volunteers (9-4) for the second time this season with an upset at Knoxville, Tenn.

Harvard 82, No. 17 Boston College 70: Jeremy Lin scored 27 points, Oliver McNally added 19 and the visiting Crimson (8-6) came to Boston to stun the Eagles (13-3), who upset previously top-ranked North Carolina on Sunday.

No. 18 Marquette 81, Rutgers 76: Wesley Matthews scored 23 points, hitting all 10 of his shots, to help the Golden Eagles (14-2) turn back the Scarlet Knights (9-7, 0-3) at Piscataway, N.J., for their first 3-0 start in the Big East since joining the conference in 2005.

No. 23 Louisville 71, South Florida 57: Earl Clark scored 22 points, Edgar Sosa added 12 and the Cardinals (10-3, 1-0 Big East) rode a 19-4 run to a 28-15 lead and the Bulls (5-9, 0-2) got no closer than five thereafter at Tampa, Fla.

BRIGHAM YOUNg-HAWAI'I 83, HAWAI'I-HILO 69: Lucas Alves had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Nathan Sims added 13 points, and the host Seasiders (8-1) opened up a 50-33 halftime lead in beating the Vulcans (7-5) in a non-conference game at Cannon Activities Center in La'ie. Jay DeMaestri scored 19, Charlando Brown had 14, Perry Baggett 13 and John Smith 10 to lead Hawai'i-Hilo.

HAWAI'I-HILO 59, BRIGHAM YOUNG-HAWAI'I 57: Jessica Hanato hit a jumper with .06 seconds left to play, lifting the Vulcans (6-3) over the Seasiders (4-6) in a non-conference game at Cannon Activities Center in La'ie. Ashley Kaulii scored 18, Hina Kimitete 15 and Amanda Adams 13 for UHH. Latoya Wily scored 14, Agnes Tuilevuka 13 and Zori Drew 10 for BYUH.