North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Falls to No. 3 Duke, 76-61
3/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
ATLANTA (AP) -- Duke forgot its home uniforms, but the third-ranked Blue Devils didn't miss a beat in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Jason Williams scored 10 of his 19 points during a 15-0 first-half run as Duke (27-4) began defense of its ACC title with a 76-61 victory over North Carolina State on Friday night.
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| NC State's Clifford Crawford leaps for the ball over Duke's Jason Williams. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) |
Chris Duhon made his second start with center Carlos Boozer out with a broken bone in his right foot and was impressive again, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds. Shane Battier added 16 points.
Anthony Grundy scored 10 of N.C. State's first 14 points, but finished with just 11 as the Wolfpack fell to 1-11 this season against ranked teams.
Duke is trying to become just the third time in the 48-year history of the ACC to win three straight championships. N.C. State did it in 1954-56 and North Carolina in 1967-69.
The second-seeded Blue Devils got off to a poor start in their black uniforms instead of the customary white, which is the norm for the higher seed, but were accidentally left behind in North Carolina.
Duke missed 14 of its first 18 shots, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range, before Williams and the defense picked it up a notch.
Trailing by three, Duke scored on six straight possessions as Williams had two layups, a fast-break slam and a 3-pointer that gave the Blue Devils a 31-19 lead 5:39 before the break.
Nate James and Battier also sank 3-pointers during the run, but the nation's top shooting team from long range had an off night, going 7-for-22 beyond the arc.
The seventh-seeded Wolfpack dictated the tempo for the opening 10 minutes, then ran into a Duke defense that began to trap and force miscues.
N.C. State turned it over on four straight possessions during Duke's spurt and finished with 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes to trail by 14 at the break.
That was bad news against Duke, which came into the game 24-2 when leading at halftime.
Battier was just 2-for-11 in the first half, but made two free throws, a shot in the lane and a 3-pointer in the opening 5:23 of the second period as Duke went up 51-33, and the Wolfpack never threatened.
The defeat was the first opening-round loss in the tournament for fifth-year Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek, who upset highly ranked Duke in 1997 and reached the finals.
