NO. 5 DUKE 84, NO. 21 FLORIDA 74
NEW YORK -- Amile Jefferson had career highs of 24 points and 15 rebounds to help lead No. 5 Duke to an 84-74 victory over No. 21 Florida on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Luke Kennard scored 29 points and freshman Jayson Tatum added 22 for the Blue Devils (9-1), whose only loss was to Kansas on this same court in the Champions Classic in November.
As good as Duke (9-1) looked against Florida (7-2), it was only that: a glimpse.
Grayson Allen is still not 100 percent, but he made several decent passes in lieu of being explosive. He's been battling turf toe since the last time Duke played at MSG, a last-second 75-77 loss to Kansas on Nov. 15. Allen led the game with eight assists; he had six points.
Also, Marques Bolden, playing two minutes in the second game of his college career, picked up two quick fouls early and was pulled in favor of Chase Jeter.
Duke shared the ball well, 16 assists to Florida's 10, in a game that started off back and forth. The Blue Devils rallied with 4:32 left in the first half when Kennard made three good passes on a possession that ended with a Jefferson dunk, giving them a 29-28 lead.
Tatum even showed maturity on that play, which started with one of his eight defensive rebounds; all his boards came on that end. He pushed the ball up, stopping at the top of the key just to see what was available. On Saturday, the wing probably would have went for the basket.
Tatum passed up a few looks to pass and finished with 7-of-11 shooting, knocking down a jumper to give Duke a 12-point lead at 5:36 in the second half.
Kennard, who just came off a career night against Maine, was the engine for Duke throughout the night. When he wasn't making three-pointers or flexing his mid-range game or finishing spin moves with his off hand, he was setting up his teammates. He only finished with three assists, but the sophomore guard drove Duke's ball movement.
In other games involving Top 25 men's teams Tuesday, Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and Josh Hart had 21 to help No. 1 Villanova hold off La Salle 89-79. The Wildcats (9-0) failed to dominate in their first game of the season as the top-ranked team in the country. The national champions led La Salle (4-3) by only single digits late in the game and played little like the team that had steamrolled to the top. Johnnie Shuler and Pookie Powell made late three-pointers that pulled the Explorers to 77-70. La Salle, which has never defeated a No. 1 team, got more late help from long range when Jordan Price popped a three that made it a four-point game. Powell scored 27 points. Villanova sealed the victory on Donte DiVincenzo's late dunk and avoided the upset. ... Frank Mason scored 30 points to match his career high, Devonte Graham and Josh Jackson also had big games and No. 3 Kansas rolled to a 105-62 victory over Missouri-Kansas City to give Coach Bill Self career victory No. 600. Jackson had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, while Graham was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points as the Jayhawks (8-1) allowed Self to empty his bench early again. He became the ninth-fastest coach to reach 600 victories, just behind Phog Allen, whose name adorns their building. The former Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois coach is 394-84 with the Jayhawks, and Self's mark of 212-9 at Allen Fieldhouse is downright absurd considering the Jayhawks' typically rugged schedule. Of course, their game against UMKC (6-4) was essentially over the moment the contract was signed. ... Kyle Guy scored 13 points to lead five Virginia players in double figures, and the No. 14 Cavaliers used strong perimeter shooting to beat East Carolina 76-53. Virginia (8-1) had little trouble bouncing back from Saturday's loss to then-No. 25 West Virginia. After trailing 16-15 with 9:26 remaining in the first half, the Cavaliers ended the period on a 27-4 run. The spurt included seven consecutive made three-pointers, with three coming from Guy. A former Mr. Basketball in Indiana, Guy was held out for the final 11:27 during the loss to the Mountaineers. He logged 21 minutes Tuesday, sparking Virginia's early barrage from long range. The Cavaliers finished 9 of 21 from beyond the arc, taking advantage of East Carolina's 2-3 zone. ... Isaac Haas and Vincent Edwards were both 6 of 9 from the field and had 16 points as No. 18 Purdue dominated Arizona State in every phase of the game for a 97-64 victory in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. Purdue, which has won six of seven, took command with a 26-2 run that gave the Boilermakers a 35-12 lead. During the spurt, Purdue scored both inside and out while the Sun Devils (5-4) missed 12 of 13 shots and the Boilermakers (7-2) outrebounded Arizona State 16-5. Arizona State finished the first half 1 of 11 from three-point range, one game after matching the school record with 18 threes against UNLV. The Sun Devils were 4 for 26 for the game on threes and 24 of 67 overall. ... Bonzie Colson had his sixth consecutive double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, leading No. 23 Notre Dame to an 87-72 victory over Fort Wayne. Steve Vasturia scored 21 points for the Fighting Irish (9-0), off to their fastest start in Coach Mike Brey's 17 seasons -- and the school's best since opening 12-0 in 1973. Fort Wayne native V.J. Beachem added 14 points, Matt Farrell had 12 and Colson hit a career-high 3 three-pointers. Mo Evans scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half to lead Fort Wayne (7-3), which had won six consecutive -- including an overtime upset of then-No. 3 Indiana. John Konchar added a career-high 18 points to go with nine rebounds for the Mastodons.
SEC
Vols win easily
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Jordan Bowden scored 11 consecutive points during a 23-0 run that broke the game open as Tennessee breezed to a 90-50 victory over Presbyterian.
Lamonte Turner had 24 points as Tennessee (4-3) won its third consecutive to go over .500 for the first time all season heading into Sunday's game at No. 7 North Carolina.
Bowden, a freshman, finished with a career-high 21 points. Eleven of those points came in a span of 75 seconds as he sank three consecutive three-pointers and followed that flurry with a steal and dunk.
Turner and Bowden shot a combined 12 of 21 from three-point range.
After trailing by as many as 18, Presbyterian got back-to-back three-pointers from Darius Moore to cut the lead to 50-41 with 12:25 left. Presbyterian (3-5) wouldn't score again for over 6 ½ minutes as Tennessee went on its 23-0 spurt.
In other games involving SEC men's teams Tuesday, Vanderbilt broke a school record with 19 3-pointers and Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 19 points, including four three-pointers, in a 90-63 victory over High Point. Riley LaChance tied the record with a three-pointer from the top of the key with 6:56 left and Joe Toye's three-pointer from the corner with 1:26 left broke the record. LaChance scored 14 points, including four threes. Vanderbilt (5-4) made 19 of 32 from three-point range. The old school record was 18 three-pointers in an 88-63 victory at Tennessee in 2005. High Point (4-5) went 12 for 15 from beyond the arc. ... Kevin Puryear scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help lift Missouri over Miami (Ohio) 81-55. Russell Woods added 15 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season. He was 4 of 7 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line, well above his 56.5 percent season average. Miami (Ohio's) Logan McLane made the first basket of the game, just 19 seconds in, but Missouri answered with a 16-0 run, holding the RedHawks scoreless for 9:03. Michael Weathers' three-pointer with 10:36 remaining in the first half snapped the lengthy scoring drought and sparked a 23-7 run that gave the RedHawks (4-5) a 25-23 lead approaching halftime. The Tigers (5-3) came out of halftime on a 20-5 run and rarely let up, outscoring the RedHawks 55-30 in the second half.
Sun Belt women
ARKANSAS STATE 83, TULSA 80
Arkansas State (1-6) earned its first victory of the season, defeating Tulsa (3-6) at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Tulsa had an opportunity to tie the game, but Ebony Parker’s three-point attempt did not fall as time expired. ASU trailed 38-33 at halftime but took a 66-60 lead going into the fourth quarter. Jada Ford led the Red Wolves with 23 points, including five three-pointers. She also had five rebounds and two steals. Dominique Oliver scored 16 points. Starr Taylor had 11 points. Tahlon Hopkins finished with eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds. The Red Wolves shot 42.4 percent (28 of 66) from the floor and made 9 three-pointers. ASU was also 18 of 21 from the free-throw line. Kendrian Elliott led Tulsa with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Tatyana Perez scored 14 points while Erika Wakefield had 13 points.
Sports on 12/07/2016