NEW YORK - Of all the things Duke basketball may have lost over the past few seasons, a flair for the dramatic is not one of them.
Sophomore Jason Williams snuck through the Temple two-three zone to feed Carlos Boozer, who nailed a turnaround layup with 17 seconds remaining to put the Blue Devils ahead 63-60. The basket gave No. 1 Duke all the cushion it needed to claim its second-ever Preseason NIT Championship with a 63-61 win over an unflinching Temple team (4-1) in Madison Square Garden Friday.
"We feel fortunate to win," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who led the Blue Devils to the tournament's inaugural title in 1985. "It's not that we didn't earn it, but both teams were evenly matched. Everything down the line was equal and we were fortunate to beat a very good team."
Fortunate and lucky that college basketball games are not two minutes shorter.
After staking itself to an early second-half lead, Duke let the Owls push themselves back in the game, falling behind 60-54 on Alex Wesby's second three-pointer of the game with 3:08 to play.
But then the Blue Devils pushed right back.
Duke went on a 9-0 run, and Temple did not score again until the clock read 1.6.
"We connected out there," said Boozer, who earned tournament MVP honors for his 40-point, 17-rebound effort in the final two games. "We made great plays; we played good defense. We got jump balls and we got loose balls. Those were key plays for us. Six points down with 2:40 to play, a lot of teams fold. Not us."
Fittingly
Williams, who also earned All-Tournament honors for his 10-assist night, then put the Blue Devils ahead for good, nailing a three-pointer and staking the Blue Devils to a 61-60 lead they would not relinquish.
"I actually thought we were up by one when I shot it," said Williams, who shot just 3-for-10 from the floor, including 2-for-7 from behind the arc. "My shot hadn't been there all night."
Temple never got a legitimate chance at a tying three after Boozer's basket. Duke, which had two fouls to give, used them both to keep pressure on Temple, eventually forcing Greer to the line for a one-and-one with 1.6 seconds to play. The junior guard, who led the Owls with 15 points, hit the first one and missed the second one intentionally.
An uncontrolled rebound and a busted in-bounds play ended the game and Temple's upset bid.
"Nothing is better than winning a great game against a great team," said Duke captain Shane Battier, who suffered through a rare off night from the
floor. "Temple gave us all we could handle, and Temple showed great grit."
The defensive slugfest did not allow either team to get into an offensive flow,
resulting
"They put game pressure on you," Krzyzewski said. "They force you to play possession to possession. We like to play faster, and we made some mistakes."
Mistakes were not part of Duke's game in its 95-69 demolition of Texas in the semifinals of the tournament Wednesday night. The Blue Devils scored the first seven points of the contest and never let the Longhorns in the game. Behind Nate James' career-high 26 points and Boozer's 11 rebounds, the Blue Devils went up by as many as 20 points in the first half and ballooned the lead to as many as 31 in the second half.
"Nate was incredibly efficient," Krzyzewski said. "He didn't have the ball in his hands more than 30 or 40 seconds. He got some open looks. Our guys look for him. Nate got the ball and knocked them down."
After a Tuesday matchup with Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Blue Devils will have to take on the Owls in Philadelphia for the second time in eight days.
"During November and December, you want to play tough games," Krzyzewski said. "A lot of teams aren't playing these tough schedules; it will help us."
Notes: Williams, Boozer, Greer, Kevin Lyde of Temple, Chris Owens of Texas and Kirk Haston of Indiana comprised the preseason NIT All-Tournament team.... Texas won the consolation game 70-58 over Indiana.
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