By ALLISON CREEKMORE
and ERIC FRIEDMAN
The men's basketball team finished its exhibition season in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night, stopping Athletes in Action 107-87.
Senior center Erik Meek made an immediate impact for the Blue Devils in his first game since deciding not to redshirt this season. He led Duke in rebounding, grabbing 12 boards while scoring 11 points. Senior center Cherokee Parks notched 23 points for the Blue Devils and added seven rebounds.
"I thought Erik did well," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He missed some shots that he won't miss in a week or so. He was very, very excited to play, and I think he was rushing."
The addition of Meek to the lineup allowed Duke to keep a rotation of two big men in the game, with Meek, Parks and sophomore forward Greg Newton sharing time.
"We can keep two big guys in the lineup [now]," Krzyzewski said. "We don't have that in-between guy [this year]. We're either up to 6-5 or we're 6-10. As a result, we need to have those two big guys in the ballgame. That rotation was pretty good tonight. I think that as soon as they learn how to play together, there will be a familiarity there."
"The best thing about Erik is that he's a big body that's always around the bucket," Parks said. "Whenever anybody puts up a shot, he's always going to be there to keep it alive. He's just a very good, solid low-post player.
"The whole rotation is easier now. When we get to playing in the [Atlantic Coast Conference], there's not a lot of teams that play two big guys, so that's really going to put us at an advantage."
Sophomore guard Jeff Capel scored 16 of his 19 points in the first half. At the 15:10 mark of the first half, Duke started a 25-5 run engineered by Capel that gave the Blue Devils an insurmountable 37-16 lead.
Capel's stellar backcourt play was complemented by a steady performance from freshman guard Trajan Langdon. Langdon played a strong game defensively, while taking a more unselfish role offensively.
"[Langdon] is doing a very solid job," Krzyzewski said. "I think he should look to shoot more. He's catching the ball at the three-point arc and because he's an unselfish kid, he's looking to pass.
"I would like to see him at least square up for the shot, whether he takes it or not. He really is an outstanding shooter. I think he could be one of the better three-point shooters that we have."
Athletes in Action was led by the outstanding performance of guard Rod Foster, who was an impressive 11-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-11 from behind the three-point arc. Foster paced Athletes in Action with a game-high 31 points. Also performing well for AIA was center Mike Ravizee, who notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
Duke controlled the game from the start, jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead over AIA. Following its impressive 25-5 run five minutes into the first half, Duke never led by less than 10 points. Capel capped off the run with a jam off of a steal at 9:23 left in the half.
Foster tried to lessen the gap, nailing back to back three-pointers, but a Newton dunk stopped the attempted comeback. The Blue Devils finished out the half with a commanding lead, 55-37.
After the halftime break, the two teams played very evenly. Duke's final margin of victory was only 20 points after leading by 18 at the half.
"I thought that in the second half we didn't pay attention to detail on the defensive end," Krzyzewski said. "All it takes is just one guy to break down on his assignment, and our defense isn't as good. We just got moving a little too fast.
"I was pleased with our team. I thought we were a very unselfish team, but an excited team. But overall, it was good. I thought that was another step that we needed to take. We're going to have to keep growing with this basketball team."
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