Four-ward March: Duke topples Temple

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.-Finally, the Blue Devils are back.

A five-year drought ended with a downpour as Duke (36-1) took the court at the Meadowlands yesterday afternoon and, fueled by 23 points from senior guard Trajan Langdon, went out and dismantled Temple (24-11), 85-64.

With his team down 9-5 with 15:11 left in the opening half, Langdon simply caught fire. A running jumper from the baseline, a three-pointer, then another, and another, from deep behind the line. Eleven straight points kick-started a 17-2 Blue Devil run that put Duke up 22-11 about midway through the half.

From there, the lead hovered around 10, getting as low as five points at 30-25 before Duke pulled it back up to double figures. An acrobatic rebound-slam by freshman Corey Maggette sent Duke into the locker room with a comfortable 43-31 advantage. But there was no doubt from the Blue Devils as to where the initial spark had come from.

"Trajan's shooting spree in the first half really helped us get going," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who remained perfect at 24-0 in East Regional games. "I think Trajan knew he had to do that to settle everyone down. I'm really proud of him. We have a lot of sophomores on this team, and to be a fifth-year senior, it's tough with that age gap. He's been a great leader for us."

Shane Battier said the team knew who to count on to lead the Blue Devils to St. Petersburg. "After the first one he made, we knew he was going to be in the groove," Battier said. "He had that look."

The Duke attack was a model of efficiency. The team shot an astounding 60 percent from the field for the game, including 59 percent from beyond the arc. The Blue Devils had 14 turnovers but countered with 19 assists. Six Duke players had at least two assists, spreading the ball around to beat Temple's vaunted matchup-zone defense.

Ultimately, the ball usually wound up in Langdon's hands, and the team captain failed to deliver only once. Langdon shot 6-of-7 from the field, including 5-of-6 on three-pointers, and added 6-of-8 from the charity stripe to account for his points.

Matt Karcher, Temple's leading scorer, normally shoots only 37.2 percent from the field. But Chris Carrawell, who defended Karcher for most of the afternoon, made that number look good, holding the sophomore to just 7-of-25 shooting, and only 3-15 from behind the arc. Karcher missed as many shots as the entire Duke team.

"I thought our defense was really great today," Krzyzewski said. "Chris Carrawell in particular was huge tonight. There's no question about it."

In addition to his tough defense, Carrawell contributed his usual a-little-bit-of-everything performance: 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and no turnovers. The junior was able to penetrate holes in Temple's zone, opening up opportunities for himself and his teammates.

Brand received the biggest boost from Carrawell's ability to penetrate-of Carrawell's seven assists, six went to the sophomore center for layups or dunks.

"Chris is arguably as important a player for us as anybody," Krzyzewski said. "When he plays his role for us at a high level, we're just an unbelievable basketball team."

Carrawell credited Langdon's shooting performance for opening the doors for him.

"If they leave Trajan, he'll knock them down all day," Carrawell said. "They had to go out to him. That opened it up for me. I felt like I could get to the middle of the defense all night."

In Friday's game against Southwest Missouri State, the Bears hung around, refusing to go quietly into the night. Allen Phillips came off the bench to lead the team with 16 points, and the Blue Devils never got their first-half lead into double digits.

But in the second half, Duke was simply too much for SMS. While the Bears fought tough, even closing to 52-42 with 14:03 left, the Blue Devils pushed the lead to as many as 22 and walked off the court with a somewhat-disappointing 78-61 victory.

"This was a wakeup call," Carrawell said after the game. "I'm glad it happened. We needed it. Every game in the NCAA tournament isn't going to be a 41-point win. It was kind of like a loss. Now we know we have to get refocused."

Langdon led the way with 24 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Brand added 14 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and four steals as the Bears were ultimately overmatched.

Asked what teams could do to defeat the Blue Devils, Temple head coach John Chaney was left without too many words of wisdom.

"I hope [Duke's opponents] believe in the Lord," he said. "I don't know how to tell other teams how to win."

Notes: The all-East Regional team included Langdon, Brand, Will Avery and both Pepe Sanchez and Karcher of Temple.... Duke will face Michigan State in the national semifinals Saturday evening at 8:15 p.m. in St. Petersburg, Fla.