The Time Is on Duke’s Side in Win

OK, it wasn’t pretty, but Mike Krzyzewski isn’t going to throw it back.

“It’s too bad,” Krzyzewski said after Steve Wojciechowski made two free throws with seven-tenths of a second to play--after a timekeeping dispute--and gave No. 6 Duke a 62-61 victory over Virginia on Tuesday night in Charlottesville, Va.

“It’s a very difficult loss for them,” the Duke coach said. “We feel fortunate to win, but we made a winning play.”

Cavalier Coach Jeff Jones was having a difficult time.

“It’s a shame the way the game ended,” he said. “It’s hard to find anything to say to them that justifies what happened.”

The score was tied, 60-60, when Virginia’s Norman Nolan was fouled with five seconds to play. He missed the first free throw and made the second for a one-point lead.

The horn then blew as Virginia’s Willie Dersch was trying to check into the game, but the officials didn’t stop play.

Wojciechowski took the inbounds pass and, with the clock not yet running, drove the length of the court. He was fouled while trying a layup with 2.2 seconds showing.

The officials went to the video monitor, replayed the play twice and timed it with a stop watch. After a lengthy discussion, they reset the clock to seventh-tenths of a second and Wojciechowski made both free throws.

Asked why Dersch was not allowed in the game after Nolan’s free throw, referee Rick Hartzell said, “We didn’t see a sub there. We didn’t hear a horn. After the foul was called on the Virginia player, the timer told us the clock was started late.”

Ricky Price and Roshown McCleod each had 13 points for Duke, 20-5 overall and 9-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which has won five in a row and nine of 10.

Nolan had 16 points for Virginia (15-9, 5-7), which came in with a 10-game winning streak at home.

In their last meeting on Jan. 18, the Cavaliers lost to the Blue Devils by 19 points.

Jones disputed the official version of the final five seconds and said his players were confused and not ready to play defense.

He said Hartzell tried to wave in Dersch after the player told the referee that he was replacing Nolan, and that Dersch should have been allowed in and Duke should have had the ball under the basket with five seconds to play.

But the officials said the play couldn’t be corrected.

Krzyzewski said he tried to warn Jones and the officials that if they reviewed the tape, “Virginia was going to get messed over” because of the clock not starting.

“I don’t want to win by any shenanigans,” he said. “Wins are not that important. I thought the officials handled it as well as they could have.”

Virginia outrebounded Duke, 45-36, and outshot the Blue Devils 43.6% to 35%.

Idaho 73, Washington State 66--Jason Jackman had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead Idaho (11-13), which had a 17-3 run in outscoring Washington State (11-12) by 12 points in the second half at Moscow, Idaho.

OTHER GAMES

Charlie Miller outscored Penn State by himself in the first half and finished with a season-high 22 points for Indiana (19-8, 6-6) in an 81-57 rout of Penn State (8-13, 1-11) in a Big Ten game at Bloomington, Ind. . . . Pat Bradley missed his first six shots, then made four of his next six during an Arkansas (13-8, 6-5) run in a 75-42 victory over Auburn (14-11, 5-7) in a Southeastern Conference game at Fayetteville, Ark. . . . Edgar Padilla scored a game-high 23 points, including seven in a key stretch, to lift Massachusetts (15-10, 9-3) to a 74-68 win over St. Bonaventure (15-10, 5-6) in an Atlantic 10 game at Amherst, Mass. . . . Johnnie Blake had nine of his 15 points and Terry Mills had eight of his 19 in a 25-6 Rutgers (10-10) run in a 76-65 win over Loyola of Maryland (8-13) in Piscataway, N.J. . . . Pat Garrity had 27 points and 13 rebounds to lead Notre Dame (12-9, 5-8) to a 90-76 victory over West Virginia (14-7, 8-6) in a Big East game at South Bend, Ind. . . . Brian Earl scored 17 points and sparked a second-half surge for Princeton (17-3, 7-0), which won for the 12th time in a row, 74-59, over Penn in an Ivy League game at Philadelphia.