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'Well done Duke's lone senior scores 31 as Devils rout UNC
Posted: Sunday March 05, 2000 11:52 AM
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Chris Carrawell didn't want all the spotlight on his Senior Day, and performances by juniors Shane Battier and Nate James made sure of that. Battier scored 30 points and James added 19 as No. 4 Duke beat North Carolina 90-76 on Saturday to sweep the season series for just the fourth time in 36 years. "I told the guys to play. Don't get caught up in trying to give me the ball. I don't want to score every time," said Carrawell, who scored 21 in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "Definitely they attacked it." The Blue Devils (24-4, 15-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their fifth straight game in the 81-year-old rivalry. "They are the best team in the league and I think they have a great chance to win the national championship," said North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge. North Carolina (18-12, 9-7) has not won at Cameron since 1996. Even with the loss to Duke, the regular-season ACC champion, the Tar Heels are assured at least a tie for third place. "A win against Carolina any day is especially sweet and to do it for Chris today is great," Battier said. Duke took control early and never trailed. Joseph Forte, who led North Carolina with 24 points, made a layup with 1:41 left to pull North Carolina within 11 at 80-69, but that was as close as the Tar Heels would get. As the Cameron Crazies chanted "Thank you, C-Well," Carrawell made two free throws and then punctuated the victory with a dunk off a steal to make it 84-69 with 1:30 remaining. He went to the bench with 32 seconds left to more showers of cheers. "Certainly, I'm proud of Chris. It's been an emotional day," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Our kids should have won today for him, and we did." The Blue Devils stretched their lead from four to 10 points in a dazzling one-minute span in the first half.
Jason Williams scored on a fast break and made another basket eight seconds later after a North Carolina turnover. Then on the inbounds pass, the Tar Heels again turned the ball over and Carrawell, who had 11 points in the first half, grabbed it for a dunk to put Duke ahead 22-12. That spurt keyed an 18-8 run that gave the Blue Devils a 40-20 lead with two minutes left. Duke led 42-27 at halftime. The Tar Heels didn't look the same after senior point guard Ed Cota left for about seven minutes in the first half to get five stitches over his left eye. Senior Terrence Newby substituted for Cota while trainers worked on his eye, but he didn't handle the ball as well. North Carolina finished with a season-high 23 turnovers. "We really turned up our intensity [after Cota's injury]," Battier said. "We really pressured Newby and left him out to dry a couple of times." With a large bandage over his eyebrow, Cota finished with 11 points and 13 assists. He moved into third place on the NCAA all-time career list for assists with 992. North Carolina tried to trim Duke's lead in the second half and got it down to 11 after Jason Capel's 3 and Julius Pepper's layup to make it 54-43 with 13:34 left. But Battier hit consecutive 3-pointers to make it 60-43 a minute later. The Tar Heels cut the lead to nine on Forte's 3 with 5:14 left, but Carrawell pushed it back to double figures with a leaping layup on the next possession. Carrawell, Duke's leading scorer this season, has been a part of Duke's four straight ACC regular-season titles and has only seen Duke lose four times at home. "I never imagined doing the things that I have done. I just
want to keep on going," he said. "I also cried in the warmups. I
checked around to see if anyone was looking at me and I pushed the
tear back in my eye."
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