NO. 5 DUKE 78, MICHIGAN STATE 69
DURHAM, N.C. -- Grayson Allen scored 24 points, Luke Kennard added 20 and No. 5 Duke beat Michigan State 78-69 on Tuesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Amile Jefferson had 17 points and 13 rebounds while freshman Frank Jackson finished with 11 points and keyed a timely 11-0 run for the Blue Devils (7-1).
They won their fourth consecutive despite shooting just 27 percent from three-point range.
Eron Harris scored 14 points for Michigan State (4-4). Playing their first game as an unranked team since March 2015, the Spartans had 18 turnovers and star freshman Miles Bridges was held to 11 points -- six fewer than his team-leading average -- on 4-of-13 shooting.
Neither team led by more than four before the Blue Devils broke a 48-48 tie by reeling off 11 consecutive points, a run that coincided with a series of Spartan slaps to the floor -- one of Duke's trademark moves.
Seconds after Bridges gave the floor a firm slap, Jackson blew past the Michigan State guards for a layup that gave Duke its largest lead to that point, 55-48, with just under 13 minutes left.
Duke's Allen was just 7 of 21 shooting in 37 minutes while playing three days after injuring a toe on his right foot during the Appalachian State victory. The Blue Devils needed major minutes from him because they went just six deep -- the five starters, plus Chase Jeter. Injured freshman forwards Harry Giles, Marques Bolden and Jayson Tatum once again took part in pregame warmups with varying stages of intensity.
In other games involving Top 25 men’s teams Tuesday, Kris Jenkins hit six threes and scored 22 points and Josh Hart had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 2 Villanova past Penn 82-57. … Lagerald Vick scored a career-high 23 points on near-perfect shooting, Svi Mykhailiuk had 14 and No. 4 Kansas rolled to a 91-61 victory over Long Beach State. Josh Jackson added 13 points and Devonte Graham had 12 for the Jayhawks (6-1), who doubled up the 49ers (1-8) at 50-25 out of the break and coasted to their 44th consecutive victory at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. … Trevon Bluiett scored 15 of his 23 points during Xavier’s dominant first half, and the seventh-ranked Musketeers remained unbeaten with an 85-55 victory over North Dakota State. … Marcus Foster scored 22 points, Justin Patton had season highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds and No. 10 Creighton pulled away in the second half for a 93-72 victory over Buffalo. …Ethan Happ had 24 points and 13 rebounds, zone-busting guard Bronson Koenig scored 20 points and No. 17 Wisconsin (6-2) beat No. 22 Syracuse (4-2) 77-60. Koenig, the seasoned senior guard, was 6 of 9 from three-point range, and the Badgers shot 48 percent overall (11 of 23) from behind the arc against the Orange’s 2-3 zone.… Alec Peters scored 27 points to help Valparaiso knock off No. 21 Rhode Island 65-62. Fourth in the nation in scoring at just over 25 points per game, Peters scored six points down the stretch and got a piece of Jarvis Garrett’s potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired. Jubril Adekoya chipped in 13 points and Tevonn Walker had 10 for the Crusaders (7-1), who will take more than a week off before a trip to face No. 1 Kentucky in Lexington.
TOP 25 WOMEN
UConn prevails again
HARTFORD, Conn. — Napheesa Collier scored 23 points to lead No. 2 UConn to its 80th consecutive victory, an 80-43 rout of Chattanooga on Tuesday night.
Katie Lou Samuelson added 19 points for the Huskies, who have won 127 of their last 128 games and 52 consecutive at home.
The two sophomores combined to hit 19 of their 30 shots from the field.
UConn (5-0) led by just 12 points at halftime, but held Chattanooga scoreless for more than 8 minutes during an 18-0 third quarter run that gave the Huskies a 61-33 lead and put the game out of reach. The Mocs (3-6) had just 12 points after intermission.
SEC
Key sparks Tide
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Braxton Key scored a gamehigh 14 points and grabbed six rebounds and Alabama defeated Charleston Southern 76-46 on Tuesday night.
Making just his second career start, Key’s first two three-pointers sparked a 10-0 run for the Crimson Tide (4-2). Alabama quickly took control of the game and the Buccaneers (3-3) trailed by at least 10 points for the final 32 minutes of the game.
“Braxton did a nice job of catching the ball and getting in the right position,” Alabama Coach Avery Johnson said.
Johnson said his team did a good job cleaning up mistakes he emphasized all week in practice. After struggling at times this season with early foul trouble, the Crimson Tide didn’t commit a foul in the first 10 minutes of the first half.
Avery Johnson Jr. and Ar’Mond Davis also finished in double figures for the Crimson Tide with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Alabama bench scored 46 points to nearly match an opponent for the second time this season.
Dazon Ingram added a three-pointer and a layup to score the first five points in the second half to spark Alabama.
In other games involving SEC teams Tuesday, Mustapha Heron scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds, LaRon Smith added 15 points and five rebounds, and Auburn powered past South Carolina-Upstate 90-83. … Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 22 points, Jeff Roberson added 13 and Vanderbilt beat Tennessee State 83-59, giving the Tigers (6-1) their first loss of the season. Fisher-Davis made 6 of 10 from the floor and 8 of 11 from the foul line. Vanderbilt’s Luke Kornet and Riley LaChance both scored 12 points. The Commodores (4-3) shot 60.9 percent from the floor in the first half, hitting 14 of their first 23 shots, including five three-pointers. … Antonio Blakeney scored 23 points and LSU pulled away in the second half for an 84-65 nonconference victory over Houston. Blakeney led an 8-0 run which enabled LSU (5-2) to take control of the game early in the second half.
Sports on 11/30/2016