Davidson played Duke tough for 24 minutes Friday night but learned that 40 minutes of determination are needed to win in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils, getting a spark from Mason Plumlee, pulled away in the second half for an 82-69 victory, the 904th for coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Plumlee, a 6-foot-10 junior, helped Duke go on a 14-0 run that wiped out Davidson's 41-39 lead and put Duke in front 53-41. Until taking the lead for good — when Plumlee's soaring two-handed dunk on a follow shot with 16:06 left made the score 43-41 — the Blue Devils had led for only 3:06.
Tightening its defense, No. 6 Duke held Davidson to only three field goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Duke extended its run to 25-4 and led 64-45 with 10:21 left.
Krzyzewski said he thought his players made several spectacular plays in the comeback, which supplied needed energy.
"It was even, and then all of a sudden it was 10 points," Krzyzewski said. "I worry after we do something like that because we're younger and we're going to let down.
"We kind of still stayed pretty good after that."
Duke cruised the rest of the way, improving to 4-0. It defeated Davidson for the 23rd consecutive game and built its home winning streak to 39 games. Davidson fell to 2-1.
Krzyzewski was honored on the court after the game in a long ceremony for breaking Bob Knight's men's Division I record of 902 victories. Krzyzewski's 903rd win came Tuesday in New York, against Michigan State.
Krzyzewski summed up setting the record and last night's comeback in three words — what a week.
Guard J.P. Kuhlman of Davidson said that he and his teammates thought they let the chance to pull a huge upset slip through their hands after they led into the second half.
"We definitely wanted to come out with a win," Kuhlman said. "We didn't come here just to play close. We're disappointed that we lost, but there's some things we can learn and get better."
Guards Austin Rivers and Seth Curry led the Blue Devils with 17 points each. Plumlee added 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Duke forced 17 turnovers.
Chris Czerapowicz led the Wildcats with 15 points and five rebounds, coming off the bench. Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks added 12 points each.
Plumlee's dunk for the lead came on the second of three consecutive baskets that he scored. Once Duke grabbed the lead, and seemed to shake Davidson at least a little, the margin grew steadily in the next five minutes.
Miles Plumlee dunked on a break to make it 49-41. Rivers scored after a steal, and then Miles Plumlee added two free throws to build the lead to 12.
"Our offense led to bad defense," Kuhlman said. "We took some bad shots. They got a couple of blocked shots that led to some easy baskets, and that really got them going."
Until then, Davidson gave Duke all that it could handle. Davidson led 35-34 at halftime, after being up 33-27 with 3:09 left in the first half.
Davidson led for much of the first half, except for a period of 2:52. Duke didn't take its first lead until there was 9:49 left in the half, when Andre Dawkins made a 3-pointer for a 17-15 advantage.
"I thought we were on our heels defensively," Krzyzewski said. "I thought they got it down faster.
"They cut harder. They were a very determined team the entire game, and I thought it knocked us back."
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