Duncan Scores in Different Way

Coach Dave Odom gave Tim Duncan a thank you from the heart following Wake Forest’s 61-44 victory over Virginia Tech on Tuesday night at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Duncan, the All-American center for the No. 2-ranked Demon Deacons, sacrificed his individual statistics for the good of the team.

“It’s one of those situations that comes along once in a [coaching] career and it is very special,” Odom said of his senior, who only took five shots in the nonconference victory. “He is absolutely, completely unaffected by personal accomplishments. He, right now, is about us improving.”

Odom said he was unaware when he took Duncan out with 7:48 left that he was two rebounds shy of his 26th straight double-double. But then he put Duncan back in and it took him only 1:10 to get his two rebounds and keep the streak alive. He had a season-low 12 points.

Duncan’s unselfish play enabled guard Jerry Braswell to break out of a horrible shooting slump and score 13 points as the Demon Deacons (16-1) held their 17th straight opponent under 39% shooting.

The Hokies (10-9) were held to a season-low point total.

No. 9 Louisville 71, DePaul 54--The Cardinals (17-2, 4-1), coming off a three-point victory over UCLA, struggled against the Blue Demons (3-15, 1-6) before taking control early in the second half after an 11-0 run in a Conference USA game at Louisville.

No. 16 Michigan 67, Penn State 59--The Wolverines (15-5, 5-3) defeated the Nittany Lions (8-9) in a Big Ten game at State College, Pa., for the first time since Feb. 18, 1993.

Louis Bullock scored 23 points and Robert Traylor had 10 rebounds for the Wolverines.

No. 20 Xavier 91, Rhode Island 79--Coming off his worst all-around performance of the season, Xavier point guard Gary Lumpkin produced one of his best, scoring 24 points as the Musketeers (14-3, 5-2) scored an Atlantic 10 victory over the Rams (12-6, 6-2) at Cincinnati.

In a loss to Duquesne on Saturday, Lumpkin scored only eight points.

Baylor 76, No. 23 Texas 72--Damond Mannon’s three-point basket with 21 seconds to play broke the game’s final tie and gave the Bears (13-7, 2-6) a Big 12 upset victory over the Longhorns (11-6, 5-2) at Waco, Texas.

OTHER GAMES

Temple freshman Pepe Sanchez made a 30-foot jump shot at the buzzer to give the Owls (10-6, 4-3) a 70-67 double-overtime victory over La Salle (7-9, 2-4) in an Atlantic 10 game at Philadelphia. . . . Harold Deane made both ends of a one-and-one with 43.7 seconds remaining and Virginia (13-6, 4-4) survived a 20-point second half by Danny Strong for a 56-50 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over North Carolina State (8-9, 0-8) at Charlottesville, Va.