Dec. 31, 2009

No. 22 Florida State Cruises Past Alabama A&M, 81-34

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton knew his team had Alabama A&M outmanned Thursday. What made him happy was that the No. 22 Seminoles played like it.

FSU (12-2, 1-0 ACC) rode a record-setting defensive performance to an 81-34 rout of Alabama A&M, allowing the fewest points in Civic Center history. The Seminoles smothered the Bulldogs (3-5) in the second half, allowing them to score just 10 points on 4-of-22 shooting.

Deividas Dulkys led FSU with 19 points, tying his career high. Dulkys, the Seminoles' top 3-point threat, hit five of eight from beyond the arc, but called the performance "just another day."

No. 7 Duke Rolls by Penn, 114-55

Nolan Smith scored 23 points to help the seventh-ranked Blue Devils beat Pennsylvania 114-55 on Thursday night in their final tune-up before opening the league schedule here against Clemson this weekend.

Kyle Singler added 20 points for the Blue Devils (11-1), who took control of the game early en route to their fifth straight victory. Duke led by double figures in the first 5 minutes, then ran off a 23-3 run that blew the game open and turned the rest of the contest into a formality.

The Blue Devils shot 60 percent, hit 10 of 21 3-pointers and finished with a season-high scoring output to extend the Quakers' miserable start. By the time it was over, Duke scored the most points ever allowed by Penn (0-9) while handing the Quakers their most lopsided loss in program history.

NC State Surges Past UNC Greensboro

Tracy Smith scored 21 points to lead North Carolina State past North Carolina-Greensboro 89-67 on Thursday night.

Dennis Horner added 17 points for the Wolfpack (10-3), who established a season scoring high and shot nearly 68 percent in the second half. They never trailed, blew most of an early 15-point lead and used an overwhelming second-half spurt to cruise to their second straight win.

N.C. State didn't turn the ball over during the first 15 minutes of the second half and put the game away with a 20-4 run that began with about 13 1/2 minutes to play.

Wake Forest Edges Richmond 74-68 in Overtime

Chas McFarland and L.D. Williams each recorded double-doubles and Al-Farouq Aminu scored eight points in overtime to lead Wake Forest to a thrilling 74-68 overtime win against Richmond on New Year's Eve in the Joel Coliseum.

The game was a seesaw battle throughout. The two teams traded the lead 15 times, while there were 20 ties.

Aminu scored a team-high 16 points, eight of those coming in overtime, and also brought down eight rebounds. McFarland and Williams each notched double-doubles. McFarland had 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Williams scored 10 points and brought down 10 rebounds. Ishmael Smith added 13 points and a game-high seven assists.