LAHAINA, Maui - The infamous giant killers were killed by a famous giant Monday morning in the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui as No. 3 Duke (3-0) dismantled host Chaminade (0-2) 106-70 in the opening game of the Maui Invitational.
The Blue Devils' biggest obstacle was waking up before 6 a.m. in preparation for the 9 a.m. tipoff, but unfortunately for the Silverswords, Duke made it out of bed and onto the court.
"I was pleased with our team," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The biggest thing for us was adjusting to the nine o'clock game. I thought we played well most of the time. I look at Chaminade as a good basketball team. They have a real good basketball history."
History was not in the making yesterday, though. Chaminade stayed close for all of three minutes, when William Antonio hit a pull-up jumper, cutting Duke's lead to 10-7. From there, Roshown McLeod scored four points during an 11-2 run that opened a 12-point lead and erased all thoughts of a Sword upset.
Chaminade, a Division-II school famous for its upset of top-ranked Virginia 15 years ago, committed 12 fouls and allowed Elton Brand to score seven of his game-high 23 points in the first quarter as Duke opened a 26-13 advantage after the opening 10-minute stanza.
"I knew they were a national title contender even before they kicked our ass," Chaminade coach Al Walker said.
The Blue Devils tore the game open early in the second quarter on a 13-3 run, punctuated by a rim-rattling Chris Burgess alley-oop off a halfcourt feed from Steve Wojciechowski. Wojciechowski dished out 11 assists for the game and helped Duke adjust its offense after two of the Blue Devils' athletic sophomores, Chris Carrawell and Nate James, were forced to miss the game with respective back and ankle injuries.
Their absence allowed others to step up, as Mike Chappell connected on 3-of-4 three-pointers, finishing with 14 points, while Shane Battier controlled the glass, pulling down 14 boards to lead Duke to a 53-31 rebounding advantage.
"One of the keys was to rebound and play defense," Battier said. "I just concentrated on coming in and rebounding and letting some of the other guys look for their offense."
Chaminade finally showed a little more life in the third quarter. Trailing 52-29 at intermission, the Swords fell further behind, 66-36, before Stanley Martin scored nine of his 14 points to bring Chaminade within 20, at 77-57. Duke's defense faltered a bit, giving the Swords open looks. Martin found himself open, as did Darnell Clavon, who led Chaminade with 21 points.
"We weren't playing very good defense," Krzyzewski said. "We've still got a lot of growing to do."
Just as the third quarter ended, Battier hit a three from the right wing, spearheading a 17-2 Duke run that pushed the Blue Devils' advantage to 35 midway through the fourth and silenced the rowdy Sword student section for good.
"I think we picked up our intensity again," Wojciechowski said. "We didn't want to let them get too close. We just weren't playing too well for a stretch there."
Besides the early start time, Duke had to adjust to the smaller size of the gym, which seats only 2,500 at full capacity and gives the players a different depth perception on their shots.
The Blue Devils still shot close to 49 percent, though they did miss 14 free throws. The host Swords shot 32 percent from the field and only 8-of-25 from beyond the arc.
With the win, Duke advances to the semifinals to face Missouri, who beat DePaul 45-42 in the first round, today at 7 p.m. EST.
Notes: The Maui Invitational is one of several preseason tournaments experimenting with a few rule changes. Rather than the standard two 20-minute halves, the tournament features four 10-minute quarters, as well as a 40-second shot clock and new rules on how many players can be on the blocks during free throws. After the game, Krzyzewski said he strongly disliked the quarters system.
The status of Carrawell and James is uncertain, though they are doubtful for the rest of this tournament.
Chaminade's big gun, forward Aleksey Chitikov, was only able to play three minutes after reinjuring his knee, which he initially hurt in a 31-point season-opening performance against Hawaii Pacific.
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