Duke Wins in a Rout, 120-56

Using a game against No. 1 Duke as a barometer is dangerous enough. Playing the Blue Devils in your season opener when they have already played two games can be basketball suicide.

Coach Cy Alexander and his South Carolina State Bulldogs found out the hard way Saturday night at Durham, N.C.

Disappointed by a combined 40 turnovers in their first two lopsided wins, the Blue Devils (3-0) warmed up for a trip to the Great Alaska Shootout by crushing the Bulldogs, 120-56.

“We’re going to be seeing this on ‘SportsCenter,’ but you’ve got to live with it and learn from it,” said Alexander, whose team was almost outscored by the Duke bench, which had 50 points.

Elton Brand led seven Duke double-figure scorers with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Trajan Langdon added 17 points. Duke shot 59%, handed out 30 assists, blocked 10 shots and had a 57-24 advantage on the boards.

No. 8 Kansas 91, Fort Hays State 67--Ryan Robertson made four three-point shots and scored a career-high 21 points for the Jayhawks at Lawrence, Kan.

Kenny Gregory added 14 points for Kansas (3-0), which extended its school record with its 62nd consecutive home win. Fort Hays State (2-1) is the only non-Division I opponent this year for the Jayhawks, who each season schedule one of Kansas’ four Division II schools.

No. 13 Oklahoma State 58, Hawaii 37--In a game played late Friday night, Brian Montonati came off the bench to score 14 points and pull down 11 rebounds in the championship game of the VoiceStream Wireless Challenge at Honolulu.

Montonati led a 23-2 run early in the second half as the Cowboys (3-0) pulled away from Hawaii (1-2).

No. 16 Xavier 90, Chicago State 50--James Posey scored 21 points for the Musketeers at Cincinnati.

Xavier (2-0) opened the game with a 12-1 run and extended the lead over Chicago State (0-3) to 30 midway through the second half.

OTHERS

Georgia State 84, North Florida 74--On his third try, Georgia State Coach Lefty Driesell got his 700th victory. Driesell, 66, became the 11th coach in Division I history to reach that figure. Torquin Gresham and Anton Reese each had 25 points at Atlanta for the Panthers (1-1), while Maurice Robertson had 22.

North Florida (0-2), a Division II school, led by 12 points midway through the second half.

Rice 69, Houston 64--Jason Skaer and Mike Wilkes each scored 17 points and led a second-half rally at Houston as the Owls (2-1) handed Cougar (1-1) Coach Clyde Drexler his first college loss.

Wake Forest 81, Mercer 66--Freshman Broderick Hicks scored all 20 of his points in the second half to rally Wake Forest (3-1) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Mercer (0-4) was led by 17 points from Evans Davis.

South Florida 93, Texas 76--Shaddrick Jenkins scored 20 points for South Florida (1-0) at Austin, Texas, sending the Longhorns to an 0-2 start under first-year Coach Rick Barnes.

Nebraska 95, Washington State 84--Venson Hamilton scored 24 points to lead Nebraska (2-1) to a victory in consolation-round action at the Top of the World Classic at Fairbanks, Alaska.

Washington State (1-2) managed to come within three points of Nebraska, but never led the game.

Vanderbilt 68, Notre Dame 63--Dan Langhi scored a career-high 33 points and had 10 rebounds at Nashville, Tenn.

Notre Dame (1-2) had a chance to take the lead late when Antoni Wyche went to the foul line with 26 seconds left with and the Commodores (4-1) ahead, 64-63. Wyche missed both free throws.

Westmont 54, UC Santa Barbara 53--Corey Blick made three foul shots with one second left to lift Westmont (4-0) at Santa Barbara.

It was Westmont’s first victory over UC Santa Barbara (0-3) since the 1958-59 season.

WOMEN

No. 11 Notre Dame 84, No. 6 Duke 57--Ruth Riley scored 20 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Irish at South Bend, Ind.

The 6-foot-5 center just missed a triple-double with eight blocks as Notre Dame (3-0) had little trouble with the Blue Devils (1-3).

No. 5 North Carolina 82, Fordham 50--Nikki Teasley scored 13 of her 21 points in the second half to help spark slow-starting North Carolina (5-0)past Fordham (0-3) at Chapel Hill, N.C.

No. 15 Old Dominion 85, No. 12 Texas Tech 64--Lucienne Berthieu had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lift the Lady Monarchs (2-0) past Texas Tech (1-1) at Norfolk, Va.

No. 16 North Carolina State 93, North Carolina Asheville 25--Summer Erb scored 15 points to lead the Wolfpack (2-0) at Raleigh, N.C. Emily Hill led North Carolina Asheville (0-3) with seven points.

No. 17 Kansas 62, Minnesota 53--Lynn Pride had 20 points as Kansas (2-1) beat Minnesota (2-1) in overtime at the Hawaiian Regent Classic at Honolulu.

No. 18 Arkansas 70, Louisville 61--Wendi Willits scored 22 points and Karyn Karlin added 21 as Arkansas (4-1) beat the Cardinals (2-1) in the championship game of the Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Fayetteville, Ark.

No. 23 Nebraska 78, Wisconsin Milwaukee 51--Charlie Rogers scored 12 points as the Cornhuskers (3-0) jumped out quickly at Lincoln, Neb., to beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee (0-2).