COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : Duke Puts Down Challenge : East Regional: Seton Hall plays hard, makes Blue Devils work for 81-69 victory.

For 32 games--oops, make that 33 games after Duke’s 81-69 victory against Seton Hall in Thursday night’s NCAA East Regional semifinal game at the Spectrum--Blue Devil Coach Mike Krzyzewski has bristled at the suggestion that his team was defending national champion.

The way Krzyzewski looked at it, there was nothing to defend, only something else to win--in this case, the 1992 NCAA title.

Yes, well, the keepers of the Duke trophy cases might want to save a little extra space for a companion piece of NCAA hardware. After the way the Blue Devils played against No. 4-seeded Seton Hall, another trip to the Final Four grows more possible.

And you know what happened the last time Duke advanced that far.

In this, the NCAA tournament of uncertainties, upsets and “X” factors, there is at least one sure thing: when challenged, the No. 1-ranked Blue Devils (31-2) respond.

For its effort--and it took some doing--Duke advanced to a regional final for the fifth consecutive year. The Blue Devils play Kentucky on Saturday night at the Spectrum.

Thursday night, Duke faced a team that knew the Blue Devils almost as well as the Blue Devils knew themselves. Two brothers, Duke’s Bobby and Seton Hall’s Danny Hurley, renewed a rivalry started years ago on the playgrounds of Jersey City, N.J. Others, such as Seton Hall’s Jerry Walker, Luther Wright, Terry Dehere and Bryan Caver, were familiar with Duke players by playing on assorted U.S. amateur teams during the summer.

Not that it really mattered. As it turned out, Carlesimo chose to try a few different twists against the Blue Devils. Danny Hurley guarded Bobby, but few remaining pregame predictions went to form.

Instead, Duke All-American center Christian Laettner found himself defended by the tag team of 6-foot-7 Walker and 7-2, 290-pound Wright. Walker was supposed to be there, but Wright’s extended play--15 quality minutes--was a bit of surprise.

In retrospect, it was one of the few things that worked for Seton Hall all night. Laettner scored 16 points, but it was a hard 16.

What Seton Hall didn’t figure on was the scoring of Duke forward Antonio Lang and the defense played by Blue Devil forward Thomas Hill on Arturas Karnishovas, John Leahy and sometimes Terry Dehere, the Pirates’ leading scorer. And when Hill wasn’t pestering Dehere, Brian Davis was.

Dehere had 21 points, but five of those came when the game was long since decided. He missed his two three-pointers.

Karnishovas fouled out with 10:40 to play. Lang stayed around long enough to score 16 points and add seven rebounds.

“If I had to single out one guy, I’d single out Antonio Lang,” Carlesimo said. “It was kind of a game role players (were important in).”

Senior forward Gordon Winchester score a personal-best 20 points for the Pirates, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

“When the game was on the line, (Duke) stepped up,” Carlesimo said. “You need a very special effort to beat a great team. And Duke is a great team.”

This isn’t the first time Seton Hall has been placed in the same regional as the No. 1 ranked team. It’s the fourth consecutive time that the Men’s Basketball Committee has bestowed the unwanted honor on the Pirates.

Nonetheless, Seton Hall vowed not to repeat their performance of a year ago, when they lost to then-No. 1 Nevada Las Vegas. Winchester said the Pirates were tight, and that while they entered the game thinking they could beat the Rebels, they didn’t really believe it.

This time they did believe they could beat Duke.

Seton Hall never led, but the Pirates stayed within reach of Duke. Three times they let the Blue Devil lead stretch to eight points, only to answer with scoring spurts.

If nothing else, the Pirates never allowed Duke to get comfortable, as the Blue Devils did in earlier tournament victories against Campbell and Iowa. This is the Seton Hall way: to annoy, to stay close with its half-court offense, to wear down opponents with its defense.

After Duke built the lead to 13 points midway through the half, Seton Hall cut the advantage to 68-62, but the Pirates were reduced to quick fouls and hurried three-point shots that missed their mark.