ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A matchup against Mateen Cleaves was just another day at the office for Will Avery.
After all, a guy who has already faced top point guards such as Ed Cota, Terrell McIntyre, Wayne Turner and Cleaves himself was not likely to be in awe of facing the Spartan junior a second time.
And though Avery did not emerge the clear winner in Round Two, he was a big reason why the Blue Devils lived to see another day. The sophomore scored five straight points late in the second half to spread Duke's lead from a tenuous four to a much-more-comfortable nine.
Avery was only 4-of-12 shooting the rest of the night, and committed four turnovers against zero assists, but when the game was on the line, Duke's point guard answered the call.
"To play a game like this, that's what we need," Avery said of his crucial baskets. "Michigan State just stuck it out and hung in there the whole game. I gained confidence when I made those baskets and just picked up my aggressiveness on the defensive end."
Once again, Cleaves was not able to find his range against the Blue Devils. He was 3-of-17 when the teams met in December, and a 5-for-16 effort was not much of an improvement this time around, especially since he missed all but two of his nine three-point attempts. With Michigan State rallying, Cleaves and his teammates were unable to pull any closer than three points.
"I've been taking the shots," Cleaves said. "I'm going to continue taking those shots. It's kind of funny, if I don't make them, people say I forced them. When I make them, people make me out to be a hero. So I'm gonna keep taking those shots and that's what I do."
While Avery was the more-effective shooter, Cleaves clearly distributed better. He dished out 10 assists while notching only one more turnover than Avery. The Blue Devils as a team had just seven assists, three less than the Michigan State All-American.
Cleaves might have had more if his teammates made open shots. In the first half, he set up good looks on numerous possessions only to watch as the Spartans hit just 29 percent from the floor.
"I think we missed some shots we should have hit," Cleaves said. "We had open shots we just didn't go for. But you do have to give Duke a lot of credit for playing the way they played."
And after shooting a combined 24 percent in two meetings against the Blue Devils, Cleaves will now have to watch from home as Avery and Duke play in tonight's national championship.
Michigan State was the opponent that started the Blue Devils' 32-game winning streak, and though the Spartans came up close, they merely ended up as another Duke victim.
"We got so close; we couldn't get over that hump," Cleaves said. "Like I said, we didn't come here just to give them a good game. We came here to try to win and we were so close. We were one or two plays away from probably pulling it out. I'm very proud of the guys and I'm very proud of our season."
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