Duke displays its other skills
Half-court defense, 3-point shooting subdue San Diego St.
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Top-ranked Duke didn’t use the brute force of highlight-worthy dunks to easily advance in the Maui Invitational on Monday.
The Blue Devils instead relied on steady half-court defense and dead-eye 3-point shooting to post another lopsided win.
Duke made nine of its 10 3-pointers in the first half to open a 17-point lead and roll to a 90-64 win over San Diego State at Lahaina Civic Center.
The Blue Devils (4-0) advance to play No. 8-ranked Auburn (4-0) in the Maui Invitational semifinals at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Tigers beat Xavier, 88-79, in overtime on Monday.
San Diego State (2-1) did manage to score the game’s first basket and led for five seconds. That brought the total time the Blue Devils have trailed this season to 35 seconds over four games.
R.J. Barrett erased that deficit with a 3-pointer, setting the tone for the first half as Duke shot its way to a 49-32 halftime lead.
The Blue Devils made 9 of their 17 3-point attempts in the first half. They didn’t record their first dunk of the game until fabulous freshman Zion Williamson’s crowd-pleasing, windmill slam on a breakaway with 13:28 to play in the game. By then, the Blue Devils had built a 71-44 lead.
Barrett paced Duke with 20 points, hitting three of six 3-pointers, and had a team-best five assists despite playing only 23 minutes due to his four fouls.
Fellow freshman Cam Reddish scored 16 points, while freshman guard Tre Jones had 14 and Williamson 13 for the Blue Devils.
Junior forward Jack White contributed 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Duke shot 51 percent and made 40 percent (10 of 25) of its 3-point shots. San Diego State shot just 36 percent, including 6 of 21 3-pointers (29 percent) while committing 13 turnovers.
San Diego State’s switching man-to-man defense limited Duke’s ability to find open driving lanes to the basket. No. 6 NEVADA 90, CAL
BAPTIST 55: In Reno, Nev., Trey Porter had 14 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Brown scored 16 and Nevada beat California Baptist.
Nevada outrebounded the Lancers 47-31 and outscored them 40-24 in the paint.
Six players scored in double figures for the Wolf Pack (4-0). Caleb Martin had 14 points, Jazz Johnson added 11, Jordan Caroline 10 and Tre’Shawn Thurman 10.
Milan Acquaah, a Washington State transfer who started nine games for the Cougars last season, had 12 points for Cal Baptist. Jordan Heading also scored 12.
Cal Baptist (2-2) grabbed a 14-11 lead with 11:34 left in the first half, but Nevada answered with a 31-10 run to enter the break up 42-24.
No. 7 NORTH CAROLINA 101, SAINT FRANCIS (PA.)
76: In Chapel Hill, N.C., Cameron Johnson scored 20 points, freshman Nassir Little added 19 and North Carolina beat Saint Francis of Pennsylvania in the on-campus round of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Luke Maye had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Kenny Williams had a career-high nine assists and freshman Coby White finished with 16 points for the Tar Heels (5-0), who shot 52 percent and never trailed. No. 8 AUBURN 88, XAVIER 79: At the Maui Invitational, Bryce Brown scored 26 points and Jared Harper added 25 for the victorious Tigers (4-0). Auburn shot poorly from the perimeter early and had a hard time shaking the new-look Musketeers (2-2), missing badly on a shot to win it in regulation.
Auburn took control in the overtime behind its defense, outscoring Xavier 11-2. The Tigers scored 31 points off Xavier’s 22 turnovers overall to earn a spot in the semifinals against the Duke-San Diego State winner. No. 12 KANSAS STATE
82, MISSOURI 67: In St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dean Wade scored 21 points, and Kansas State defeated Missouri in the championship game of the Paradise Jam tournament.
Barry Brown Jr. added 19 points and six assists, Xavier Sneed had 13 points and Kamau Stokes scored 10 for the Wildcats (5-0), who won their first in-season tournament title in four tries under head coach Bruce Weber. No. 14 FLORIDA STATE
93, CANISIUS 61: In Tallahassee, Fla., Mfiondu Kabengele scored a careerhigh 18 points and Terance Mann added 12 as Florida State warmed up after a seven-day layoff to beat Canisius.
Kabengele, the nephew of former NBA All-Star center Dikembe Mutombo, came off the bench to shoot 6 of 12 from the floor and had six rebounds for the Seminoles. Florida State is 3-0 for a third straight season. No. 16 CLEMSON 72,
AKRON 69: In George Town, Cayman Islands, Shelton Mitchell scored 22 points with four steals, Elijah Thomas had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Clemson won the first game of the Cayman Islands Classic.
Marcquise Reed added 16 points for Clemson (4-0), which returns four starters from last season’s Sweet 16 game. Sophomore Aamir Simms added 12 points to reach double figures for the fourth straight game after doing it just three times last season. Mitchell was 9 of 13 from the free-throw line compared to Akron’s 15 attempts, and Thomas secured his 12th career double-double with 4:08 to play.
Koren Cristian Jackson made five 3-pointers and scored 25 points for Akron (3-1). Eleven of Akron’s 23 baskets came from 3-point range. HIGH POINT 69, AIR
FORCE 62: In Bimini, Bahamas, Jahaad Proctor scored 28 points with three 3-pointers for his 11th career 20-point game and High Point pulled away from Air Force early. LOUISIANA 91, COLORADO STATE 73: In Estero, Fla., JaKeenan Gant hit three 3-pointers and finished with 19 points and Malik Marquetti scored 16, including four 3s, to help Louisiana-Lafayette win in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase. UTAH STATE 80, SAINT
MARY’S 63: In Las Vegas, Nev., Neemias Queta had 24 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to lead Utah State to a victory over Saint Mary’s in the heavyweight bracket of the MGM Main Event.
The Aggies shot 49 percent (29 of 50) from the floor, while stifling Saint Mary’s to 29 percent.
Utah State will play in Wednesday’s championship game.
NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS 94, NORTHERN
NEW MEXICO 82: In Española, the New Mexico Highlands’ press wore down Northern New Mexico in the second half as the Cowboys outscored the Eagles 49-34 in the final 20 minutes to come away with a victory. UTEP 66, EASTERN
ENW MEXICO 59: In El Paso, Eastern New Mexico couldn’t finish off a hot start to the second half to pull off the upset over Division I University of Texas-El Paso in an Exhibition.
Women No. 5 LOUISVILLE 74,
BOISE STATE 55: In Boise, Idaho, Asia Durr scored 20 points and Arica Carter added 16 as Louisville used a smothering defense to turn back upset-minded Boise State.
Louisville (3-0) opened the third quarter with a 19-3 run to take control of the game, building a 50-33 advantage with 3:26 remaining.
Boise State (3-1), which lost to Louisville 74-42 in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March, matched the Cardinals early, but struggled to keep pace with Louisville’s uptempo game in the second half. No. 21 MISSOURI 59, SIU-EDWARDSVILLE 36: In Columbia, Mo., Sophie Cunningham had 14 points and 12 rebounds, leading Missouri past SIU-Edwardsville.
In the second half, Cunningham moved into sixth in program history with 1,626 points.
Amber Smith and Grace Berg each added 10 points for Missouri (3-1). The Tigers made 13 of 18 free throws compared to SIUE’s seven attempts. FORT LEWIS 77, NM HIGHLANDS 64: In Las Vegas, a 20-5 first-quarter domination by the Skyhawks (3-2) proved too much for the Cowgirls (2-3) to overcome. Jordyn Lewis scored 20 points for NMHU, which was 15-of-16 on free throws.
NOTES: New Mexico’s Jaisa Nunn was named Mountain West player of the week after her 32-point, 11-rebound performance Sunday in the Lobos’ 72-65 victory over Hartford. It’s the second league honor for the Lobo senior center in her career. Nunn is 14th on UNM’s all-time scoring list with 1,090 points.
New Mexico State’s 6 p.m. home game today against Abilene Christian matches two 3-0 teams. NMSU is coming off a 69-65 Saturday win at UTEP in which sisters Dominique and Monique Mills scored 11 points each. Abilene Christian is averaging 88.7 points per game but has yet to face a Division I opponent.