Smith, Singler help 8th-ranked Blue Devils cruise past Boston College 79-59
By Aaron Beard, APWednesday, January 13, 2010
No. 8 Duke beats Boston College 79-59
DURHAM, N.C. — Nolan Smith scored 24 points to help eighth-ranked Duke bounce back from a weekend loss and beat Boston College 79-59 on Wednesday night.
Kyle Singler added 15 points for the Blue Devils (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who pushed ahead for good late in the first half and pulled away in the opening minutes after the break.
Reggie Jackson scored 20 points for the Eagles (10-7, 1-2), but he was BC’s only double-figure scorer.
While Boston College held up through the first 15 minutes or so, the Blue Devils’ pressure defense finally started to make a difference late in the first half. Duke held Boston College without a field goal for nearly eight minutes and used a 15-3 run to turn a two-point deficit late in the half into a 46-35 edge on Singler’s alley-oop dunk off a feed from Smith with 17:30 left in the game.
The lead reached 54-37 before Tyler Roche ended the drought with a runner with 14:40 to play, then grew steadily from there.
Smith matched his career high for scoring, while Singler bounced back from a miserable day against Georgia Tech by finishing with 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-8 junior had just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting in a 71-67 loss to the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
The biggest disappointment for Duke, however, was that it repeated its poor outside shooting from the Georgia Tech loss. The Blue Devils shot a season-low 21 percent (6 for 28) from 3-point range in Atlanta, then followed by going just 1 for 12 against Boston College.
And with leading scorer Jon Scheyer not having a strong shooting night, the traditionally perimeter-oriented Blue Devils dominated the paint to take control.
Sophomore Miles Plumlee had 12 points, while 7-foot senior Brian Zoubek added six points and 11 rebounds — with almost all of that coming in the second half. Duke also had 21 second-chance points and took a 40-27 edge on the glass.
As for Boston College, well, everything just got worse the longer the game wore on.
The Eagles looked unfazed early in rowdy Cameron Indoor Stadium. They shot 50 percent in the first half and played with poise, getting several open looks on kickouts off dribble penetration and trailing just 38-35 at halftime.
But the Eagles shot just 8 for 22 (36 percent) after halftime. They also began committing turnovers to give the Blue Devils the transition opportunities they needed to pull away.
