DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Top-ranked Duke would like to bottle the
second half of its last three games in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
|  | | Carlos Boozer enjoyed Duke's big second half, and his 25-point contribution for the game. |
Jason Williams scored 27 points, Carlos Boozer added 25 and Duke
shot 68 percent over the final 20 minutes Sunday night in racing
past No. 7 Virginia 94-81.
Duke outscored No. 3 Maryland 51-29 in the second half at home
on Jan. 17, then beat No. 21 Wake Forest by 11 over the final 20
minutes last weekend. Virginia was added to the list of recent
second-half victims as Duke scored 52 points in the second stanza
Sunday night.
"For us to do that says a lot about our conditioning and our
physical state and mental toughness," forward Mike Dunleavy said.
"Thirty, 35 minutes through a game we can still concentrate and
put teams away."
The Blue Devils were 30-for-46 from the foul line as Virginia
was called for 31 fouls.
"We started attacking in the full court," Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said of his team's 19-for-28 shooting in the final 20
minutes. "And we had flurries started from our defense."
The Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their
sixth in a row -- all by double digits -- since losing by one point
to Florida State on Jan. 6.
Duke kept pace with Maryland atop the ACC standings nearing the
halfway point of the league season, while the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3)
fell into a fourth-place tie with Wake Forest. North Carolina State
is third at 5-2.
Williams notched his 11th 20-point game of the season, while
Boozer has six in a row as the Blue Devils improved to 18-4 in
their past 22 matchups with top ten teams and snapped Virginia's
five-game winning streak.
The Cavaliers battled foul trouble all night and were led by
Roger Mason Jr.'s 15 points.
"We were in tremendously deep foul trouble," Virginia coach
Pete Gillen said. "We went zone once and they scored in about 1.2
seconds. So I said, `Well, that's it for the zone."'
The score was tied 42-42 at halftime, but Duke took control in
the opening five minutes of the second half.
The Blue Devils went 7-for-9 from the field as Boozer had a
fastbreak layup and a slam, while Dahntay Jones scored on two
follow shots. A 3-pointer by Chris Duhon -- his first points of the
game -- gave Duke its first double-digit lead, 59-48 with 15:13
left.
Virginia closed to nine points three minutes later despite
missing eight consecutive shots at one point. But Boozer had two dunks
and a follow shot and Williams a fastbreak layup to run the score
to 77-59 as the nation's top scoring team inched closer to yet
another 20-victory season under Krzyzewski.
"We got a little flustered and took some bad shots in the
second half," Gillen said. "Our defense also broke down. Part of
it was a lack of concentration, part of it was foul trouble and
part of it was they executed well."
Virginia had four frontcourt players with three fouls each after
20 minutes, but the Cavaliers were able to forge the halftime tie
with dominating inside play.
Duke made its first eight shots and went up 42-13 at Boston
College on Thursday night, but this time it didn't come as easily
against a team it blew out by 42 in Cameron a year ago.
The Blue Devils went up by seven 6:41 before the half. However,
the Cavaliers went on an 8-0 run to keep it close without Travis
Watson, the ACC leader in double-doubles who sat out the final
11:11 with three fouls.
Virginia got a huge lift from freshman Jason Clark, who hit all
five of his first-half shots and had a season-high 11 points over
the final 6:56 of the period.
"For them, the guys coming off the bench were scoring more. I
didn't feel good," Krzyzewski said.
Duke did go 18-for-23 from the foul line, but shot 35.7 percent,
made only four 3-pointers and turned it over nine times as Virginia
had hope it would win in Cameron for the first time since 1995.
"Virginia made us look bad in the first half," Krzyzewski
said. "What a spark they got from their bench. They're good."
But Watson got his fourth foul early in the second half and
Clark fouled out with 16:14 left after picking up two in a span of
18 seconds.
"We drove the ball more than we shot 3s," Krzyzewski said when
asked about Virginia's foul situation. "In a transition game we've
got four kids who can drive." | |

ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Virginia Clubhouse
Duke Clubhouse
Top 25 RECAPS
January 27 - FINAL
(1) Duke 94 (7) Virginia 81
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