Devils romp past Cavs: Duke holds onto ACC lead; Singler, Scheyer key win

Duke pushed aside struggling Virginia last night with only minor difficulty and kept its hold on first place in the ACC for at least two more days.

Dominant in almost every phase of play, Duke took a 67-49 victory at John Paul Jones Arena to set up a Wednesday showdown at Maryland for the conference's first-place spot.

Duke hit a slight lull after halftime, after building a 35-21 halftime lead to 44-24, and three turnovers in four possessions slowed down its crisp offense. Jon Scheyer made sure that Virginia didn't creep closer than the 44-27 difference with 13:37 left.

Scheyer raced after a loose ball and dove across midcourt to gain possession, leaving at least a few skin cells on the playing floor. He rolled over and passed to Andre Dawkins, who passed ahead to Mason Plumlee for an easy basket.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke called Scheyer's dive a huge, big-time play. Scheyer did not feel that his team was in danger of losing the lead, but he did not want to take any chances.

"That's just a play that I'll make at any time in the game," Scheyer said. "It wouldn't matter if it was a 20-point game or a two-point game.

"It's just something Coach has always talked about. Getting a loose ball is just as good as scoring a bucket, so that type of play is a play I love to make."

After a missed Virginia shot, Scheyer drove the left baseline and banked in a layup to build the lead to 48-27. Duke was up 54-29 with 9:23 left, and many of the seats started emptying when occupants headed for the exits.

Duke improved to 25-4 overall and 12-2 in the ACC by winning its eighth consecutive game. Maryland is 21-7 and at 11-3 in the ACC trails Duke by one game in conference play.

Duke defeated Maryland on Feb. 13 in Durham in a 77-56 decision in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Krzyzewski said that he has talked to his team about winning the ACC's regular-season title, but securing a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament is of no importance to him right now.

"We are not talked about very much when we're good," Krzyzewski said. "It's only when we lose. So I don't think we're ever under the radar. It's just that the radar only shows up if we get our butts beat.

"Believe me, I'm not a paranoid person, but I've just learned that over this last decade, that kind of happens. People know who we are. We're not a great team. We're a very good team that's won a lot of games. We've got to work together to make it happen."

Virginia fell to 14-13 and 5-9 and lost its seventh consecutive game. Virginia had little chance of upsetting Duke at tipoff, and had none when Sylven Landesberg, its leading scorer, could not play because of a thigh injury suffered five days earlier at Miami.

Kyle Singler led Duke with 21 points and Scheyer added 20. They were the only Duke players to score more than six points. Duke's defense forced Virginia to shoot 31.4 percent from the field and to commit 14 turnovers.

Jerome Meyinsse led Virginia with 21 points and seven rebounds after starting in place of Landesberg. Meyinsse, who has been in and out of the starting lineup, was the only Virginia player to score more than seven points.

Mike Scott, Virginia's second-best player, missed all six of his shots from the field, didn't score and grabbed one rebound from his forward position. Virginia's starting backcourt combined for six points, all from Sammy Zeglinski.

Coach Tony Bennett of Virginia said that Landesberg's leg could not take the stress of playing against Duke's pressure defense because of the thigh injury.

"He's not moving well," Bennett said. "The doctors have treated it well and it should get better, but in this game you need to move hard and he wasn't ready. My hope is day by day he'll improve and be ready (soon) to go."

bcole@wsjournal.com

DUKE

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Singler 31 6-10 7-9 1-3 3 1 21

Thomas 24 2-5 0-0 1-3 1 2 4

Zoubek 14 0-0 0-0 0-4 0 4 0

Smith 28 1-8 3-4 0-2 2 1 5

Scheyer 33 8-14 0-0 0-3 3 1 20

MaPlmle 18 3-5 0-0 0-4 2 0 6

Dawkins 19 2-4 0-0 0-2 2 1 5

MiPlmle 21 1-3 1-2 0-5 0 5 3

Kelly 7 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 2 0

Davidson 3 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 1

Johnson 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Totals 200 24-50 12-17 4-31 13 17 67

Percentages: FG .480, FT .706.3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Scheyer 4-7, Singler 2-5, Dawkins 1-3, Smith 0-3).Team Rebounds: 4.Blocked Shots: 4 (Zoubek, Ma.Plumlee, Mi.Plumlee, Singler).

Turnovers: 8 (Mi.Plumlee 2, Zoubek, Singler, Dawkins, Ma.Plumlee, Scheyer, Smith).Steals: 8 (Scheyer 5, Smith, Mi.Plumlee, Johnson).Technical Fouls: None.

VIRGINIA

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Scott 12 0-6 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Meyinss 30 6-8 9-11 2-7 0 3 21

Baker 10 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Zglinski 33 2-9 1-1 0-3 2 2 6

Jones 20 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Evans 24 1-3 3-4 0-1 1 2 5

Frrakhn 27 3-11 0-0 2-2 0 1 7

Sene 27 1-4 0-0 1-10 1 2 2

Jonke 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Sherrill 7 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 2 0

Spurlock 5 2-4 1-1 0-2 0 0 5

Tat 3 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 3

Totals 200 16-51 15-18 10-33 7 15 49

Percentages: FG .314, FT .833. 3-Point Goals: 2-12, .167 (Farrakhan 1-3, Zeglinski 1-6, Spurlock 0-1, Jones 0-1, Scott 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 4 (Sene 2, Evans, Meyinsse). Turnovers: 14 (Farrakhan 3, Scott 2, Sene 2, Spurlock, Zeglinski, Evans, Tat, Meyinsse, Baker, Jones). Steals: 6 (Evans 3, Spurlock 2, Jonke). Technical Fouls: None.

Duke 35 32 -- 67


Virginia 21 28 -- 49

A--13,663.