Blue Devils avenge loss to Terps

As the ball rolled out of Daniel Ewing's hands and into those of Drew Nicholas, Maryland had one last chance to send the game into overtime with a three. Lacking any timeouts, the Terps quickly drove the ball down the court and allowed Steve Blake the final word.

The senior point guard took the desperation shot with five seconds left in regulation, but it fell short of the bucket and right back into Duke's possession. J.J. Redick sealed the game with a defensive rebound that led to two free throws and a 75-70 Duke victory. "If they were going to allow us to use that clock, we knew that even if we missed, they'd have to hit a three," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We were trying to get set up to make sure that we get a shot, but they don't get the ball until there was just under 10 seconds to go."

No. 8 Duke (18-4, 8-4 in the ACC) got its revenge on No. 13 Maryland (16-7, 8-4) after a 15-point loss to the Terps one month ago. Last night, the Blue Devils were much stronger on the boards than they were the last time these teams competed, and they held center Ryan Randle to seven rebounds - 10 less than last time. Duke also held Drew Nicholas to eight points, one-third of his total in January's meeting. Duke had a much greater inside presence, through the strong play of freshman Shelden Williams, who was matched up against Maryland's senior big men.

"We're getting a lot of balance, inside play and outside play, and we just have to keep continuing to get better," junior tri-captain Chris Duhon said. "I think earlier in the year, we relied too much on our perimeter game and shooting jumpers. Now, we're getting a mix of inside and outside, and there's a better flow on the offensive end."

The Blue Devils banked on a series of key plays in the final minutes of the game when Dahntay Jones was fouled by Chris McCray, after Jones and Shelden Williams had both missed layups. Jones sank two shots from the charity stripe to give his team a four-point lead with 2:18 left. The momentum stayed with Duke as Ewing nailed a three-pointer 42 seconds later with the shot clock dwindling.

Duke held some larger leads of seven and 10 points throughout the game, but Maryland always seemed to creep back to within a couple. With 13:44 left in the second half and the Blue Devils possessing a 44-41 lead, Jones drove down the middle of the lane and slammed a one-handed dunk into the hoop. Just under a minute later, Redick made a shot from the perimeter wing off an assist by Duhon to put Duke up by eight, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Five minutes later, the freshman sharpshooter nailed an NBA-range three as the shot clock expired. Though he went 1-for-6 from behind the arc in the first half, he made all three in the second. He finished the night with 17 points, second to Jones' team-leading 21.

"Once I hit a couple in a row, my confidence just skyrocketed," Redick said. "The shot at the end of the shot clock, when I was falling away, I probably wouldn't have taken that shot in the first half, but because I had hit a couple throughout the second half, I took it."

Midway through the first half, both teams were knotted at 19, when Duke went on a 10-0 run, sparked by a Williams layup. Two consecutive nearly identical jumpers from Jones within the next minute and a layup by Shavlik Randolph continued Duke's roll. Duhon then stole the ball from Tahj Holden and fed it to Ewing, who missed a dunk, but Jones recovered with the offensive rebound and slammed a dunk of his own. Half a minute later, a block by Williams fell into Randolph's arms for the rebound and a two point bucket for Williams.