NCAA BASKETBALL IN FOCUS

DUHON ONE OF 30 FINALISTS FOR WOODEN AWARD

Duke's Chris Duhon is one of 30 players who remain as candidates for the John R. Wooden Award given to college basketball's best player after the list was trimmed Tuesday. The Blue Devil point guard joins Connecticut's Emeka Okafor and Jameer Nelson of Saint Joseph's as players who were also in contention for last season's award won by Texas's T.J. Ford. Of the list of 30, nine members were not among the preseason candidates including Wake Forest freshman point guard Chris Paul. Fellow freshman Kris Humphries, who initially committed to play at Duke but later decided to attend Minnesota, is also a member of the list. Ten NCAA conferences are represented and the Big East has the most candidates with six, followed by the ACC with five.

ELDER EXPLODES AS YELLOW JACKETS SQUEAK BY CLEMSON

On the heals of a 36-point performance by Georgia Tech's B.J. Elder, the No. 14 Yellow Jackets defeated Clemson 76-69 at home on Tuesday night. The Yellow Jackets move to 4-2 in the conference while Clemson falls to 1-6. Marvin Lewis was the only other Yellow Jacket who scored in double figures. Elder, who had a superb pre-conference season, had been struggling since league play began, averaging just 11.8 points prior to Tuesday night's impressive showing. Duke travels to Atlanta Saturday for a matchup with the Georgia Tech.