Dominant Devils
Duke stomps Seminoles, seals ACC regular-season title
Posted: Wednesday February 17, 1999 10:30 PM
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Duke's Chris Carrawell (23) skies high for the rejection on the shot by Adrian Crawford. AP |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Top-ranked Duke has gotten off to a lot of quick starts this season. None was any better than Wednesday night's.
"I think we did our best job all year of coming ready to play and being hungry," Duke guard William Avery said after a 25-8 start boosted the Blue Devils to an 85-59 victory over Florida State. "This is the best we've started a game all year."
Elton Brand had 23 points and 16 rebounds as Duke won its 21st straight game and claimed its sixth Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in the 1990s.
"We won it tonight," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That's what we came down here to do. Now it's done, we go on to some other things."
Like trying to become the first team to go 16-0 in an ACC season.
Duke (26-1, 14-0) led 50-31 at halftime and was up 61-33 five minutes into the second half as it won for the 11th straight time on the road.
"We want to try to get on top of a team," said Brand, who had a double-double by halftime, scoring 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds despite sitting out five minutes.
Shane Battier added 16 points and Trajan Langdon had 11 for Duke, which has not lost since falling 77-75 to Cincinnati on Nov. 28.
"Our guys were really ready to play," Krzyzewski said. "We have more talent and they didn't have an answer for Elton inside. They just didn't have an answer for him."
With Brand getting 10 of Duke's 25 offensive rebounds, the Blue Devils scored 26 second-chance points.
"That was the focus today," Brand said. "We knew the big guys could get a lot of boards."
Florida State (12-13, 5-8) has lost six straight league games dating to a 71-59 victory over North Carolina State on Jan. 23.
"They really came out fast at the get-go," Florida State coach Steve Robinson said. "That's probably their trademark. They're going to be aggressive and come at you."
Damous Anderson led the Seminoles with 16 points, 14 coming in the first half when he went 7-for-7 from the field. Anderson scored a career-high 23 points last month when Florida State lost 98-73 at Duke.
"Anderson, he likes seeing us come to town," Krzyzewski said. "I think his two best games of the year are against us. He really runs the lanes well and is all over the offensive boards."
But Florida State's Ron Hale, the ACC's leading scorer in league games, struggled again against Duke, scoring just eight points. He managed only six in the earlier game against Duke.
"You've got to be able to make shots when you get them," said Hale, who took just nine shots. "We didn't make any shots."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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