The drought is over

For the men's basketball team, Thursday night's game was just like the good ol' days.

The Blue Devils played tough, innovative defense. They had solid passing on offense and found good shots.

Duke had a strong transition game, capped off by an alley-oop dunk. The Blue Devils made more free throws than the Yellow Jackets attempted. And the Cameron Crazies lived up to their name, cheering loudly and storming the court after the game.

But in the end, the most pleasing thing for Duke (11-11, 1-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) was the final score. The Blue Devils defeated No. 18 Georgia Tech (15-7, 6-4), 77-70, for their first conference win of the 1994-95 season.

"It was a terrific win, more because of what we've been through," said Duke acting head coach Pete Gaudet. "[The players] so happy and probably relieved."

The main test of Duke's defense came from Travis Best. The Yellow Jackets' senior point guard scored a game-high 25 points to go along with his five assists and four steals. The Blue Devils tried to use senior guard Kenny Blakeney--who was in the starting lineup for just the sixth time this season--to help contain the explosive Best.

"The reason [Blakeney] started was because down at Georgia Tech [on Jan. 7], he had done a very good job on Travis Best," Gaudet said. "It gives [Best] somebody a little bigger to shoot over."

Best gave the Yellow Jackets their only lead of the second half, 68-67, on his 10-foot fadeaway with 2:35 remaining. But Duke refused to quit.

"When it went off the glass, I was right there in the middle of the lane, and I was like, `Damn, Rick,"' said senior forward Cherokee Parks. "It was really great to see that our freshmen are put in these types of situations and are really stepping up."

After Price's shot, Tech again turned the ball over. This time, it was junior guard Drew Barry who made the errant pass.

After Capel was fouled and made two free throws, Meek came up with another defensive stop. This time, the Duke center blocked Eddie Elisma's shot. On the ensuing Duke possession, Blakeney was fouled by Barry, and like Capel had done moments earlier, he sank a pair of shots from charity stripe.

"I think the difference was that we didn't panic," Duke sophomore guard Jeff Capel said. "When Travis Best hit that shot to give them the lead, we didn't panic like we had in past games. We had a lot of patience and a lot of poise and showed a lot of character. We got a good shot on the offensive end. After that, we didn't get over-excited. We came back and concentrated and played great defense."

Duke used a balanced offensive attack to defeat Tech. Parks led the team with 16 points, and four other Blue Devils finished in double figures. Meek added 14 points and nine rebounds, and Blakeney scored 13.

The Blue Devils also passed the ball well. All five starters finished the game with three or more assists, as Duke tried to work the ball inside to Meek and Parks.

"We worked on it in practice--getting the ball into Cherokee and Erik," Capel said. "We realize that the more times they touch the ball, the better chance we have of winning."

The Blue Devils also tried to be more patient with their outside shots.

"The other day, we worked real hard in practice on our half-court offense," Blakeney said. "It worked real well. We tried to get a lot of touches and get some easy buckets. That's what we have to take advantage of."

Another way that Duke was able to manufacture some easy baskets was in its transition game. In particular, Blakeney and Price were quick to get down the court on steals and long rebounds. And with 11:28 left in the game, Capel found Parks for an alley-oop dunk to give the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game at 54-43.

Another focus for Duke was defense. Besides using Blakeney to contain Best, Duke tried to keep the Yellow Jackets--especially the pesky Best--off the free throw line.

"We didn't want to put him on the line," Blakeney said. "We wanted to make him work as much as he could for his points."

"We just tried to contain everybody. They're going to get their [points] because they work so hard. They play tough and they do the little things it takes to be good players."

Georgia Tech attacked the basket early in the game, mostly with drives from the outside. The Blue Devils responded by switching to a zone defense. And the defensive adjustment paid off.

"We thought a zone would work well against Tech because basically they surround two inside guys with three shooters," Gaudet said. "They tried to stick with their shooters."

The Blue Devils came out with much more intensity on both ends of the court than they had in their 51-44 loss at Clemson on Saturday.

"The reason it was a big game wasn't because it was Georgia Tech," Meek said. "It was because it was following the Clemson game. Clemson, I think, was a very tough loss for us. For me, it was the low point of the season. We all wanted to come back strong."