Jan. 9, 2008

No. 9 Duke Tops Temple, 74-64, Behind 15 From King

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Taylor King scored 15 points to lead No. 9 Duke past Temple 74-64 on Wednesday night and help Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski earn his 787th victory and move into sixth place on the career wins list.

Krzyzewski, the third winningest active coach, improved his career record to 787-262 and broke a tie with Lefty Driesell. Next is San Francisco's Eddie Sutton with 798 career wins.

DeMarcus Nelson and Greg Paulus each scored 13 points and helped the Blue Devils (12-1) beat Temple for the eighth straight time.

The Blue Devils appeared on their way to another easy non-conference victory until a surprising 8-minute scoreless drought in the second half that sliced a 19-point lead down to eight.

Kyle Singler snapped the skid with two free throws and Gerald Henderson, a Philly high school standout, followed with a dunk to break Duke out of its funk and it cruised from there.

Carolina Takes Down In-State Rival UNC-Asheville, 93-81

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Tyler Hansbrough stormed down the lane with that familiar, focused "Psycho T" look in his eye. Nobody was going to stop him -- not even the tallest player in college basketball.

Hansbrough scored 23 points and started top-ranked North Carolina's decisive rally with a momentum-shifting dunk over 7-foot-7 Kenny George in a 93-81 victory over North Carolina-Asheville on Wednesday night.

"Everybody on the team is like, 'Who's going to try to dunk (on George)?"' Hansbrough said. "It definitely was in the back of my mind."

Wayne Ellington scored 19 points, Ty Lawson had 17 and reserve Danny Green had 12 of his 14 in the first half for North Carolina (16-0), which never trailed in completing its first perfect nonconference regular season since 1998 and just its fifth in 50 years.

"The nonconference schedule's over with now -- congratulations," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. "Now we've got 15 straight (Atlantic Coast Conference) games where we've got to raise the level of our play."

Pack Blitzes NC Central, 54-29; Wins 7th Straight Game

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RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State coach Sidney Lowe got just what he wanted in the Wolfpack's final non-conference game of the season: a comfortable lead from start to finish.

The Wolfpack (11-3) never trailed Wednesday night in a 54-29 victory over North Carolina Central at the RBC Center, earning its seventh consecutive win by holding the Eagles to just 20 percent shooting from the field for the game.

Sophomore Brandon Costner led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds, while freshman J.J. Hickson added 13 points and eight rebounds. As a team, however, the Wolfpack struggled to put points on the board, hitting just 36.4 percent of its shots overall and making just four of 21 attempts from 3-point range.

That doesn't so much worry Lowe, whose team led 27-18 at the half. That lead was never in jeopardy, even as the Wolfpack went more than eight minutes in the second half without a field goal.

Georgia Tech Falls to In-State Rival Georgia, 79-72

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Billy Humphrey scored 23 points and Georgia escaped with an ugly win, holding off Georgia Tech 79-72 Wednesday night.

Georgia (9-4) maintained the home-court advantage that has prevailed in this rivalry, winning its 12th straight over the Yellow Jackets (7-7) at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia Tech's last win in Athens was Nov. 26, 1976.

The Yellow Jackets trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but fought back for a 51-51 tie on Lewis Clinch's driving basket with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Georgia quickly regained control with seven straight points, sparked by Corey Butler's 3-pointer. The Yellow Jackets got it back to 68-66 with 2 1/2 minutes left, but Jeremis Smith missed a couple of free throws that could have tied it.

Dave Bliss made two foul shots at the other end, and Butler hit another big 3 to put it away.

Clemson Falls Short Against Charlotte, 82-72

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CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) - Trevor Booker knew No. 18 Clemson had let last week's loss to top-ranked North Carolina cost the Tigers again, this time in an 82-72 loss to Charlotte on Wednesday night.

Right after the Tar Heels' 90-88 overtime victory at Littlejohn Coliseum on Sunday night, the Clemson coaches told the players that their next opponent was ready to beat them "because we were mentally soft after the North Carolina game," Booker said. "That's what they did."

Leemire Goldwire had his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the 49ers to their first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly three years.

"I don't think we could've faced them at a better time," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "But give us credit. We had to do the work."

That's what the 49ers did, closing both halves with a 13-3 run. The first one turned Charlotte's one-point lead into a 41-30 halftime advantage. The second came after Charlotte (9-5) had lost all of its 12-point lead as Clemson (12-3) tied the game at 69.