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Duke’s Victory a Small Wonder

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From Staff and Wire Reports

By going small, eighth-ranked Duke came up with a big effort Wednesday night against No. 2 Wake Forest in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Duke, with no starting player over 6 feet 8 going against Wake’s Forest’s frontline of 6-10 Tim Duncan, 6-10 Ricky Peral and 7-1 Loren Woods, forced nine turnovers in the game’s first nine minutes that set the tone for a 73-68 victory.

“We’ve gone to small lineups throughout January, throughout the ACC, and when we analyze our team that’s when we’re playing our best basketball,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

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Wake Forest, 18-2 overall and 8-2 in the ACC, was poised to become the nation’s No. 1 team for the first time after top-ranked and previously unbeaten Kansas lost in double overtime to Missouri Tuesday, but the early turnovers that produced a nine-point deficit and Duncan’s late ineffectiveness put that on hold.

Coincidentally in 1994, Wake Forest defeated Duke twice to deny the Blue Devils the No. 1 ranking. Duke had also lost the last 10 games between the schools.

Duncan had 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting but missed five throws in a late two-minute span, didn’t take a shot in the last five minutes, and had no blocked shots as Duke (18-5, 7-3) became the first team this season to shoot better than 39% against Wake Forest (46%).

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The game’s key defensive play was made by Duke’s 6-6 freshman forward Chris Carrawell, who blocked guard Tony Rutland’s driving layup with 1:20 left to preserve a three-point Blue Devil lead and put Demon Deacons in a position of having to foul.

Only problem was that Trajan Langdon, a 90% free-throw shooter, was the player they fouled. He made four consecutive free throws to seal a victory in which Duke’s leading scorer and shot blocker, 6-10 senior Greg Newton, played only six minutes.

“It’s not for any disciplinary reasons or anything, it’s strategy,” Krzyzewski said. “I have two Labs at home and I don’t have any other doghouse. If I wanted another dog I would go out and buy one.”

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No. 4 Minnesota 85, Penn State 70--The Golden Gophers (20-2, 9-1) shot 70% and forced 18 turnovers in leading by as many as 21 points in the first half of the Big Ten Conference game at Minneapolis.

Penn State (8-10, 1-9) made 14 of its first 17 shots in the second half to cut Minnesota’s lead to seven with 7:35 left but made only two baskets the rest of the game.

No. 6 Iowa State 61, Baylor 52--The Cyclones (16-3, 7-2) managed to overcome a sluggish performance against the Bears (14-8, 3-7) in which they went 11:55 of the first half without a basket in the Big 12 Conference game at Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State went on a 16-0 run after missing 13 of its first 17 shots. The Cyclones play Kansas at Ames on Sunday.

No. 7 Maryland 66, North Carolina State 55--Forward Laron Profit, coming off two subpar efforts, made eight of 13 shots and had 20 points for the Terrapins (18-4, 7-3) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md.

Profit missed eight of 13 shots and had 14 points in Maryland’s losses to Florida State and Wake Forest last week.

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North Carolina State (9-10, 1-9), which had only three turnovers in its upset of Clemson on Saturday, had 14 by halftime and 21 overall.

Nebraska 77, No. 15 Colorado 69--Guard Tyronn Lue, who missed a shot at the buzzer that could have beaten Kansas on Saturday, had 22 points to lead the Cornhuskers (12-9, 4-5) to their Big 12 Conference upset of the Buffaloes (16-5, 7-2) at Lincoln, Neb.

Colorado guard Chauncey Billups had a career-high 35 points and made seven of 11 three-point shots.

OTHER GAMES

Center Adonal Foyle had 12 blocked shots to pass Alonzo Mourning of Georgetown as the all-time NCAA Division I leader but had a season-low 15 points as Colgate (9-12, 6-2) was a 79-56 loser to Navy (6-2, 14-8) in a Patriot League game at Annapolis, Md. Foyle has 455 blocked shots, while Wake Forest’s Duncan is third at 451. . . . Marquette (14-5), which had dropped out of the Top 25 this week, missed 23 of 29 three-point shots in a stunning 68-59 nonconference loss to Maine (8-15) at Milwaukee. Maine, of the America East Conference, made 10 of 17 three-point shots. . . . Forward Austin Croshere had 24 points as Providence (17-5, 8-3) won its sixth consecutive game, a home-court 73-67 Big East Conference decision over Rutgers (9-9, 5-7). . . . Purdue (12-8, 7-3) made 12 of 23 three-point shots in recording its highest point total of the season in a 94-77 Big Ten Conference victory over Ohio State (9-10, 4-6) at West Lafayette, Ind.

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