March 14, 2003

Box Score

By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Daniel Ewing has been Duke's top player off the bench most of the season. The sophomore certainly earned more playing time after Friday night's performance as a starter.

Ewing scored a career-high 32 points as the 12th-ranked Blue Devils extended their record ACC tournament winning streak to 13 straight with an 83-76 win over Virginia.

"We thought we would try to go faster," coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Ewing replacing Casey Sanders as a starter. "We wanted to try to get Daniel in there more. However we try to do that, it's a good thing. We need to keep him on the court longer.

"It's not like we're down on Casey," the coach added. "It's more that we're up on Daniel."

The victory by third-seeded Duke (22-6) produced the first all-North Carolina semifinals since 1963 and only the fourth in the 50-year history of the Atlantic Coast Conference postseason.

The Blue Devils will play North Carolina in the semifinals Saturday in a rematch of the Tar Heels' 82-79 win five days ago in Chapel Hill. North Carolina advanced by upsetting No. 14 Maryland 84-72 earlier Friday night, while top-seeded Wake Forest will take on No. 4 seed N.C. State.

Ewing was 11-for-16 from the field, including five 3-pointers, and 5-for-5 from the foul line to best the 19 points he scored against Georgetown on Jan. 8.

"I don't think I was trying to prove anything, but there was more motivation because I was in the starting lineup," Ewing said. "I just wanted to be a spark plug and it carried over to my teammates."

Dahntay Jones hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers in a span of 47 seconds down the stretch to seal it for the Blue Devils, who last lost in the ACC tourney to North Carolina in the 1998 title game.

"I just tried to step up and knock those shots down," said Jones, who added 16 points. "I was wide open so I had to take those shots."

The balance frustrated the Cavaliers.

"We tried to cover two of their shooters at all times," Virginia guard Majestic Mapp said. "But they've got like 15 All-Americans and another one of them got hot."

Virginia (15-15) lost its 13th straight postseason game, including an 0-8 record under coach Pete Gillen.

Devin Smith led the Cavaliers with 19 points, but Virginia wasted a 57 percent shooting game by turning it over 19 times.

"I hate losing more than anybody," Gillen said. "I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. It's frustrating when you shoot that well, but we just didn't handle their pressure. That was the story of the game."

Virginia lost all hope of a comeback when senior Travis Watson, with 53 career double-doubles, fouled out with 6:55 left and his team down 61-56.

Krzyzewski benched captain Chris Duhon to start the second half in an attempt to jump-start his team's sluggish offense. The junior point guard had six of Duke's 11 first-half turnovers and was held scoreless.

The move worked as Duke started with an 18-7 run to take a 47-37 lead with 14:09 left. Ewing hit a 3-pointer, a driving layup and an alley-oop shot from Duhon, who re-entered the game at the tail end of the Duke spurt.

The Blue Devils increased the lead to as many as 13 before Virginia pulled within five. However, less than two minutes later, Ewing scored on a scoop shot and a 3-pointer and Duke's lead was back to 11 with 9:20 remaining.

"They turned up the juice on us," Gillen said. "They've got great athletes and they smothered us and we just didn't have somebody to break down the pressure. We don't have the quickness at the guard spot."

Duke's offense started in disarray. The Blue Devils missed 10 of their first 14 shots and managed just nine points in the opening 10 minutes, not getting a 3-pointer until Ewing sank one 9:46 before the half.

Meanwhile, Virginia shot 52.4 percent in the opening period but couldn't pull away after turning it over 12 times.