RALEIGH - When Kenny Inge completed a three-point play to pull N.C. State within six with 8:40 left in Duke's final visit to Reynolds Coliseum, Mike Krzyzewski said he imagined the ghosts of the building's 50-year past dancing in celebration.
Unfortunately for the ghosts, Will Avery decided to turn off the music.
The guard went on a personal 6-0 run over the next two minutes to silence the raucous crowd of 12,400 and start the second-ranked Blue Devils (21-1, 9-0 in the ACC) on a 19-6 game-ending spurt that gave them an 80-61 victory Saturday, their 16th straight win.
"I'd been pressuring [Wolfpack point guard Justin] Gainey all game long-he was a little fatigued," Avery said. "So I thought I'd go right at him and attack him, get into the paint and see how they react. They were standing around some and I was able to get layups."
With Duke ahead 61-55 after a 17-8 N.C. State (13-8, 3-6) run, the sophomore penetrated into the lane on consecutive possessions and banked in acrobatic shots. The next time down the floor Avery drove baseline and buried a jumper for a 12-point Blue Devil advantage.
He added another basket for good measure with under four minutes to go, getting in the air in traffic and on the way down flipping the ball toward the goal, where it somehow found the bottom of the net. Two Trajan Langdon free throws and a Shane Battier three-pointer on Duke's next two possessions gave the Blue Devils an insurmountable 78-59 lead.
After contributing only two points in the first half, Avery sank 4-of-6 field goals over the final 20 minutes to finish with 11, making him one of six Duke players who scored between 10 and 15 points.
"Will has the
"We haven't had a lot of guys who can [create shots like] that."
In the two teams' first meeting of the season, the Blue Devils won by 20, only one more than their margin of victory in Raleigh. But on the court, the difference between the two contests was far greater. Even though the Wolfpack never led Saturday, it hung around for most of the game.
In the first half, Duke built the second of two 10-point advantages with 7:04 remaining, only to have N.C. State mount a 10-1 run that pulled the Wolfpack within 36-35. N.C. State had two opportunities to take the lead, but Gainey was blocked on a drive, then called for a 10-second violation when he failed to get the ball past midcourt.
Langdon responded with a trey and the Blue Devils went on a 9-1 spurt before heading to the locker room. On the Wolfpack's final possession of the half, Gainey was blocked again and Battier found Nate James for a layup and a 45-36 lead.
"We practice it, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen," Krzyzewski said of Duke's dominance late in each half. "The run at the end of the first half was huge.... A mature team should do stuff like that. And we did it without having Elton [Brand] and Trajan in the ballgame at the time, so that made it even better."
The Blue Devils also ruled the first four minutes after intermission, outscoring N.C. State 8-2 before the Wolfpack came back with a spurt of its own, capped by Inge's dance-inspiring three-point play. The forward racked up 22 points
The Wolfpack made only 39 percent of its field goal attempts and none of Inge's teammates managed more than seven points. Freshman sharpshooter Adam Harrington, who burned the Blue Devils for 26 points in December, was in foul trouble for much of the game and was limited to just seven points in 17 minutes.
Other than Inge, N.C. State's best method of scoring in the first half was following up on its many misses. The Wolfpack had nine offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points over the first 20 minutes. Duke adjusted in the final period, however, holding N.C. State to two putbacks.
"We just weren't boxing out," said Brand, who led the Blue Devils with 15 points but didn't grab a single board in the first half. "In the second half we did a better job containing our guys and going after rebounds."
The center was short on several shots in the paint that he generally makes and admitted after the game that his legs might have been tired after playing three tight games in six days. But overall, the Blue Devils expressed satisfaction with their performance in the fourth contest of a grueling five-game stretch.
"This week really simulated for us what a tough week in the NCAA Tournament would be," Krzyzewski said of Duke's overtime win at St. John's last Sunday, home victory over arch-rival North Carolina Wednesday and sojourn to Raleigh Saturday. "You can play Friday and Sunday and if you advance you can play Thursday.... You play three tough games in a six-day period, and you're traveling. We will do things like that. That's one reason the St. John's game was scheduled."
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