It was halftime at Daniel Ewing's Cameron Indoor Stadium debut and nothing seemed to be working for him or his West squad.
The Duke-bound high school senior was 0-for-5 from the floor and had a pair of turnovers and fouls while his team trailed by 15. With eight minutes left before the break, Ewing finally gave the fans something to cheer about when he seemed to come out of nowhere and spectacularly broke up an alley-oop pass. His frustration continued, though, as a disbelieving Ewing was called for his second foul.
But as the game tightened down the stretch, West coach Robert Hughes knew what he wanted, and he turned to Ewing to help him achieve it.
"We were just trying to do all this fancy stuff in the first half," Hughes said of his West team. "I wanted plain vanilla, not the tutti frutti and the 31 flavors. Throwing behind-the-back passes, that's for when you're up 20. Daniel came in and did a good job."
The 6-foot-4 guard re-entered the game midway through the fourth quarter, and gave the coach all the plain vanilla he needed. He showed nothing flashy enough to compete with the monster jams of Eddy Curry or the plus-40-inch verticals of Kelvin Torbert, but that was just fine with Hughes.
Complementing Curry's overpowering presence in the interior, Ewing's perimeter play gave the West the inside-out balance that
"I wasn't trying to do anything big for the crowd," Ewing said of his fourth-quarter performance. "I was just trying to help my team win. The shots were there, so I stepped up."
But beyond making some key shots, it was the spark Ewing added on the defensive end that helped lift his squad to victory. Most pleasing to Hughes was that the Houston native raised his intensity and hustle, getting a pair of steals and seven rebounds to go along with his 10 points.
Ewing had to know last night was going to be a challenge, as he was matched up against Dajuan Wagner, arguably the most touted backcourt player of the 2005 class. Wagner mostly had his way through the first three quarters; both he and Ewing showed their quickness, but Wagner displayed his superior strength in making several powerful moves to the basket and repeatedly getting to the free-throw line.
But in the fourth quarter, when the East squad needed him the most, Wagner was frustrated by Ewing's long arms and quick feet.
"He has great strength," Ewing said of Wagner. "I just tried to contain him, and in the second half I think I did. I shut him down pretty well toward the end and I think that was one of the differences in the game."
All in all, it was hardly the most spectacular performance, but Ewing gave the Duke fans in attendance a glimpse of his explosiveness and his ability to do the little things down the stretch to lead his team to victory.
He still has some question marks he knows he will have to answer when he comes to Duke. He admitted he must work on his strength, and plans to make it a focus over this summer. His 180-pound frame was pushed around at times last night. Ewing did show, though, that his above-average basketball intelligence may make up for his slenderness, as he always seemed to be in the right position to get a rebound or contest a pass.
The game was also special for him since he was playing his last game alongside high school teammate T.J. Ford, who started at point-guard for the West squad. Ford, who similarly had a strong second half after struggling in the first, said it was tough for his teammate to get into rhythm, but predicted he will be a top college player the next few years.
Despite his good play in the second half, Ewing also made clear that he can do better, and promised to work on attacking the basket more often.
He exhibited some of this aggressiveness late in the game, when he scored eight of his 10 points. Showing a game resembling North Carolina's Joseph Forte, Ewing hit a pair of fade-away mid-range jump shots to help put the game away, but could not find his range for most of the night.
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