For 12 minutes in the first half, unranked Georgia Southern was beating No. 10 Duke at home.
But the Blue Devils would not stay behind long, as they rallied going into the half and were never again seriously threatened by the Eagles.
Duke (2-0) clamped down on defense and defeated Georgia Southern (1-1), 72-48, in the second round of the CBE Classic Monday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium. In doing so, the Blue Devils advanced to next Sunday's semifinal in Kansas City.
"The last four minutes of the first half and then the second half we played really good defensively," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We've been playing well in the two exhibition games and the two games here-well defensively-and that won the game for us."
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After fighting to keep up with the aggressive Georgia Southern squad, the Blue Devils found their energy at the end of the first half. In the last four minutes of the period, freshman Gerald Henderson and Josh McRoberts combined for 10 points, including four made free throws by the sophomore captain.
Duke sealed off its run to end the half when freshman Jon Scheyer sent a long pass to DeMarcus Nelson in the corner in front of Georgia Southern's bench. The junior swished a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the score to 38-32.
"Jon was dribbling down the court, and he threw me the ball," Nelson said. "I had seen on the shot clock how much time was left, so I knew I just had time to catch and shoot. The guy went for the steal, which got me open, and I just shot the ball."
The Eagles' defense, which Krzyzewski said forced miscommunication among the Blue Devils, waned in the second half. Duke, on the other hand, limited Georgia Southern to 7-for-23 shooting and took advantage of the Eagles' letup to hit its stride.
"We didn't get in a rhythm offensively," sophomore Greg Paulus said. "We were going a bit individual, trying to create a little bit instead of trying to get into the flow. [In] the second half we really did that."
Henderson scored 13 points on the night and provided Duke with the spark it needed at key points during the game. The freshman went on a five-point run five minutes into the second half, ending with a dunk off a pass from McRoberts.
Five minutes later, Henderson stole a ball under the basket-with an audible smack-to stop a Georgia Southern fast break.
"We had another different kid step up for us-Gerald was sensational," Krzyzewski said. "Not just with the scoring, but he saved us two or three times when we lost the ball or they had a fast break-our guys didn't give up on it. He just chased down and made huge plays."
After returning to the court Sunday for the first time since a foot injury suffered during the preseason, Paulus played 20 minutes. Krzyzewski substituted Paulus frequently and said the sophomore point guard was not comfortable on the court.
Paulus initially marked the Eagles' Dwayne Foreman, who led Georgia Southern with 18 points, but Krzyzewski put Nelson on the guard in the second half. Nelson limited Foreman to just six points.
"What's happened is, Greg went out early in the season, and we had to evolve without him," Nelson said. "And with him coming back now, we have to evolve with him, so it's a learning process for us all. We all have to continue to learn how to play with each other. We have a new system that we're running. We have to execute better, but this was definitely a step in the right direction."
Notes:
Nelson, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds on the night, also earned Most Valuable Player honors for the Durham Regional Rounds of the CBE Classic.... Duke announced Monday that Krzyzewski officially signed three members for the 2007 recruiting class during November's early signing period. Taylor King, a small forward from Santa Ana, Calif.; Kyle Singler, a small forward from South Medford, Ore.; and Nolan Smith, a combo guard from Upper Marlboro, Md. comprise the top-10 class, which is ranked third by scout.com and sixth by rivals.com. All three athletes were members of the gold medal-winning USA Men's Under-18 National Team in 2006.
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