College basketball

ACC: Duke win a hit with road fans

By wire services
Published January 1, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The fans in Greensboro simply couldn't get enough of J.J. Redick. Thanks to a spirited effort by the home team, they got to see a lot of him.

Cheered and photographed even when he was shooting free throws, the Duke senior finished with 35 points, topping 30 for the third time in four games, and led the top-ranked Blue Devils to an entertaining 102-69 victory over UNC Greensboro on Saturday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"I think it was kind of expected that we were going to have a pro-Duke crowd," Redick said. "This is an opportunity for a lot of fans from North Carolina to see us play. Obviously, it was a great crowd, and we were very appreciative."

The arena hosts the conference tournament and the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this season, so Duke (12-0) made the trip about an hour from campus for a tuneup. It was little more than that, though the Spartans (7-6) stayed close enough to keep Redick on the court for 32 minutes.

He had 19 points at halftime and nearly matched that total after the break. Redick capped his day with eight points within less than two minutes, swishing two 3-pointers and adding a jumper barely inside the line to push the Blue Devils in front 89-65 with about 61/2 minutes left.

"You feel like you're there with him, you keep challenging his shot and he just keeps hitting and hitting and hitting," UNC Greensboro coach Mike Dement said. "We worked hard to stay with him in our defense, but he hit lots of shots."

Dement called timeout after Redick's run, giving the predominantly Duke crowd a chance to shower him with a standing ovation. He got another a couple of minutes later when he went to the bench for good.

"Ultimately, we wanted to limit Redick's touches and make everybody shoot contested shots," Spartans guard Ricky Hickman said. "Duke's a great team, so you've got to kind of roll with it."

NO. 13 BC 78, R.I. 56: Sean Marshall scored a season-high 21 and combined with Craig Smith for a strong second-half start that carried the visiting Eagles (10-2) to their fourth straight win.

Smith, who had 20 points, scored seven of Boston College's first nine in the half, and Marshall scored their next 11 to give BC a 58-38 lead with 11:13 left. With the lead at 66-47, Smith scored the Eagles' next six, building it to 72-50 with 3:59 left.

NO. 16 MARYLAND 99, VMI 68: D.J. Strawberry scored 16 and Chris McCray 15, and five players scored in double figures as the host Terrapins coasted to their fifth straight win.

Nik Caner-Medley had 10 points and six assists for Maryland (10-2), which scored the game's first 13 and led 56-20 at halftime. With Strawberry and McCray leading the way, the Terps had runs of 13, 10 and 19 points in their most productive first half of the season.

UVA 71, HARTFORD 62: Sean Singletary scored 13 of his 22 in the second half, and the host Cavaliers (6-4) held the Hawks to 29 percent shooting and scored 21 off turnovers.

GA. TECH 73, B-CC 46: Anthony Morrow had 20 points and seven rebounds for the host Yellow Jackets (6-4), who used a different starting lineup for the third time in four games.

[Last modified January 1, 2006, 00:29:14]