Duke's winning streak was under serious threat Sunday night, but it charged from behind with the help of two first-season reserves to defeat Maryland and stay atop the ACC.
The Blue Devils triumphed 71-64 at Cameron Indoor Stadium to win their 25th consecutive game dating to last season. Down 38-32 only 62 seconds after halftime, Duke got its lift from transfer Seth Curry, a sophomore shooting guard, and Tyler Thornton, a freshman point guard.
Curry and Thornton ignited a 14-2 scoring run that gave Duke a 46-40 lead and put it in front with 13:02 left. Curry scored Duke's first basket of the second half with 16:15 left and scored nine of the points in the run, and Thornton added two.
"It was tough for us to get good looks out there, so I was trying to come out aggressive," Curry said. "Every time I was off the ball I was working hard to get good looks. In the second half I found a few and fortunately knocked them down."
Curry and Thornton were on the floor with Nolan Smith in a three-guard lineup. Coach Mike Krzyzewski went to the smaller lineup because he was looking for a spark for his struggling team, down by the most points that it has trailed by this season.
"I thought that whatever we told them at halftime was not working," Krzyzewski said, breaking into a smile. "In fact, I was sure it was not working."
Maryland never recovered from a falloff after taking the six-point lead. It went 10 possessions without scoring — missing six shots from the field and two from the free-throw line — and committed four turnovers.
The Terrapins did force a 46-46 tie and chopped the lead to one point twice, but the Blue Devils held firm. With the score 55-54, Kyle Singler nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing over Dino Gregory. Ahead 58-56, Andre Dawkins hit a 3-pointer from just left of the top of the key to build the lead to five points.
Duke was safe for the final 5:12. It improved to 15-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. Maryland, the last team to defeat Duke (March 3 in College Park, Md.), fell to 10-5 and 0-2.
Coach Gary Williams of Maryland said Duke's small lineup did not catch his team by surprise.
"We had gone small in the first half, and we didn't have to sub to go small," Williams said. "They had done that before. It wasn't the first time they had done that this year. We were ready for it, but I'm sure we didn't do a great job in that situation."
Singler led Duke with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Smith added 18 points. Curry scored 12, all in the second half, and Thornton finished with just the two in taking one shot.
Smith said that no one should underestimate the lift that Thornton provided Duke. Smith said he was able to play more aggressively on offense and defense when Thornton was playing point guard.
Krzyzewski said Curry and Thornton turned the game around for the nation's top-ranked team.
"Tyler brought great energy tonight," Smith said. "We wouldn't have won if Tyler didn't come in and do what he did."
Jordan Williams led Maryland with 23 points and 13 rebounds. It was his ninth straight game with double digits in both points and rebounds.
"I'm very pleased to have won the game in the manner that we did, because we could have been dead in the water," Krzyzewski said.
bcole@wsjournal.com
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