Duke, Boozer Have Answers

Carlos Boozer turned a battle of the backcourts into a blowout.

The Duke center tied his career-high with 28 points and had seven rebounds on Thursday night at Boston as the top-ranked Blue Devils opened a 29-point first-half lead and coasted to an 88-78 victory over Boston College.

“We’ve got the best perimeter in college basketball,” Boozer said. “I try to complement those guys so they can make threes and break down the defense.”

Dahntay Jones had 18 points and six rebounds and Mike Dunleavy had 16 points, five rebounds and five assists for Duke (17-1), which has won five consecutive games by an average of almost 20 points since its only loss, to Florida State, on Jan. 6.

“We’re in the third week of our season. That’s the way we look at it,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Boozer’s play overshadowed the matchup of two of the nation’s top backcourts. Duke’s Jason Williams leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring and Boston College’s Troy Bell is the top scorer in the Big East.

Bell and backcourt mate Ryan Sidney, each had eight turnovers, but they outscored Williams and Chris Duhon, 36-25. Still, there was no question which was the better team.

“I’m looking at the bottom line,” Eagle Coach Al Skinner said. “They won, we lost.”

Williams scored 15 points and Duhon had 10 with seven assists for the Blue Devils.

Bell scored 26 points and Sidney had 10 as Boston College (14-5) lost for the fourth time in its last six games.

No. 7 Virginia 93, Virginia Military Institute 59--J.C. Mathis had career-highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds in 29 minutes at Charlottesville, Va., and the Cavaliers defeated the Keydets for the 22nd consecutive time.

Virginia (14-2) improved to 99-15 in the series despite playing without starting center Travis Watson and guard Adam Hall, who were both nursing injuries.

Freshman Jason Conley had 25 points for VMI (6-12), which lost for the eighth time in nine games.

The Cavaliers led 49-29 at halftime and didn’t let up after the break, starting the second half with a 20-7 run and allowing Coach Pete Gillen to clear his shortened bench.

Roger Mason Jr. had 17 points, Elton Brown had 15 and Jermaine Harper had 13 for Virginia. Freshman Jason Clark had eight of Virginia’s 13 blocked shots.

Conley also grabbed 11 rebounds for the Keydets, but got little scoring help. Ben Rand and Preston Beverly each scored eight points for VMI.

No. 16 Gonzaga 93, San Francisco 73--Blake Stepp scored 21 points and Dan Dickau had 19 as the Bulldogs defeated the Dons at Spokane, Wash.

Gonzaga (17-3, 4-1 West Coast Conference) improved to 39-1 at home over the last four years, including 22 consecutive victories. Zach Gourde had 17 points for the Bulldogs, off to their best start in school history.

San Francisco (8-10, 3-2) trailed 49-48 early in the second half when Gonzaga went on a 20-4 run as the Dons lost their shooting touch.

San Francisco’s Darrell Tucker, who came into the game averaging more than 18 points, was held to five. The Dons scored only 10 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half and shot just 33 percent in the half.

Gonzaga finished with a 49-28 rebounding advantage.

No. 20 Ohio State 69, Michigan 47--Brian Brown scored 17 points and Brent Darby had 16 at Columbus, Ohio, as the Buckeyes (15-2, 6-0) pulled away in the second half to their ninth consecutive victory and 13th in a row in the Big Ten.

It was Ohio State’s most lopsided victory over its chief rival in 34 years.

Lavell Blanchard had 11 points for Michigan (7-9, 3-4).

No. 22 Miami 76, Villanova 58--Darius Rice had 30 points and 10 rebounds at Miami to become the first Hurricane player to have consecutive 30-point games since Eric Brown in 1989.

Rice was 10 of 15 from the field and had four three-pointers for Miami (18-2, 5-2 Big East), which improved to 12-0 at home.

Gary Buchanan had 15 points for Villanova (10-6, 3-4), which has lost four of five.