#1 Duke 102, UNC Greensboro 69
By KEITH PARSONS, AP Sports Writer
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - 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 - the third time in four games he's had at least 30 - 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 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament later this season, so Duke (12-0) made the trip about an hour from campus for a tuneup. It was little more than that, even 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 in a span of less than 2 minutes, swishing two 3-pointers and adding another jumper barely inside the line to push the Blue Devils in front 89-65 with about 6 1/2 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 a 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.''
As usual, Redick had plenty of help from Shelden Williams. The burly 6-foot-9 center posted his third straight double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and he added a career-high six steals and a block. Freshman Josh McRoberts had a season-high 15 points for the Blue Devils, who reached triple digits for the second time in three games.
It came with the Spartans sticking to their normal game plan.
``They did what they do,'' Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ``I think they'll learn it better defending Williams and Redick - or trying to - and figuring out how they made mistakes. That didn't surprise me.''
Another Duke freshman, Martynas Pocius, scored 10 points in 20 minutes, both season highs.
``That was great for us,'' Redick said. ``We're still trying to develop certain players and certain roles. That's going to be great for our future.''
Duke scored the game's first nine points and stretched the margin to 22 at halftime, mostly on the strength of Redick's effort. Nearly all of his baskets were greeted with loud cheers from the crowd of 21,124 - a record to see a UNC Greensboro athletic event - and he converted all nine free throws despite constant flashes from cameras in the stands.
Redick had 41 points three weeks ago against then-No. 2 Texas, then had 30 a few days later against Valparaiso. He cooled off a bit in a sloppy victory over St. John's - his 18 points still led the team - but was back on form in this one.
``I've been in a rhythm offensively,'' Redick said. ``I still think I'm most worried about what our team is doing and where we can improve. I think the most important thing for us is to have a consistent effort on both ends of the floor.''
Even his misses were greeted with murmurs of excitement, mostly because all but one came on one of his patented long-range jumpers. He was 10-for-16 overall and 6-for-11 from beyond the arc, giving him 23 3s in the past four games.
``The whole team gets excited when he gets going like that, it really picks us up,'' McRoberts said. ``But we need to do more so he doesn't have to make those kind of runs to help us get a big lead or be successful.''
Hickman led the Spartans with 23 points, 18 in the first half, and teammate Kyle Hines added 20.
``I came out just wanting to play aggressively and take good shots and play within our system,'' Hickman said. ``My shots were going down, so I guess I had a pretty decent game.''
Navy 84, The Citadel 70
ANNAPOLIS, Md., (AP) - Greg Sprink scored 31 points to lead Navy past The Citadel 84-70 on Saturday.
Sprink made six 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the first half to help Navy (6-5) take a 42-29 lead. He scored eight points during a second-half run that gave the Mids' their largest lead of the game at 61-39 with 13 minutes remaining. He finished 10-for-17 from the field.
David Hooper came off the bench to score 16 points for Navy which has won six of its last seven.
Kevin Hammack led The Citadel (6-6) with 13 points in its third straight double-digit loss. J'Mel Everhart added 10 points for the Bulldogs, who are 0-3 against the Midshipmen in Annapolis.
Joseph Thompson scored all seven of his points during an 11-0 run that cut The Citadel's deficit to 61-50 at the 10:49 mark. Navy forward Matt Fannin halted the rally with a layup and the visitors would get no closer.
The Citadel was playing without starting guard Vytautas Valiulis, who suffered a broken hand over the Christmas break.
The Midshipmen made a season-high 11 3-pointers and forced the Bulldogs into 21 turnovers. It was Navy's first win this season over a Division I opponent with a winning record.
Appalachian State 71, Duquesne 68
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- D.J. Thompson and Nathan Cranford made two free throws each down the stretch while Duquesne went scoreless the final 2:20 as Appalachian State earned a 71-68 win in the consolation game of Duquesne's holiday tournament Saturday.
The Dukes (2-9), who have lost three in a row and six of seven, led by 10 with seven minutes to play but the Mountaineers (5-7) closed the game on a 17-4 run.
Thompson scored 23 points, while Doug McLaughlin-Williams had 14 points and eight rebounds and Demetrius Scott 12 points and nine rebounds.
Keith Gayden had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Dukes, who came in last in their own holiday tournament and have now lost home games to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Troy and Appalachian State.
Bryant McAllister added 16 points, Chauncey Duke 14 and DeVario Hudson 12 for Duquesne.
The Mountaineers led by as many as 15 in the first half but Duquesne outscored them, 39-15, through a stretch that spanned halftime. But after shooting 56 percent in the first half, the Dukes shot only 37 percent in the second half.
Appalachian State made 15 of its 18 free throw attempts.
Georgia 89, Western Carolina 65
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Channing Toney led Georgia with a season-high 18 points as the Bulldogs beat Western Carolina 89-65 Saturday, surpassing last season's win total.
Toney broke out of a three-game slump during which he had totaled eight points while hitting four of 18 shots.
Georgia (9-3) also got 17 points from Mike Mercer and 15 from Levi Stukes. Stukes scored all his on 3-pointers.
Western Carolina's (7-8) Corey Muirhead was the game's high scorer with 20 points and top rebounder with 12. David Berghoefer added 13 points for the Catamounts.
Georgia hit nine 3-pointers in the first half, including four during a five-minute span that helped the Bulldogs build a 37-19 lead with 6:01 to go before intermission. But Georgia would not score another field goal in the first half, allowing the Catamounts to post an 11-2 run to narrow the gap to 39-30 at halftime.
Near the end of the half, Georgia was called for a technical foul when six Bulldogs lined up on the floor for an inbounds play after coach Dennis Felton called a timeout to set up a play.
Berghoefer scored the first basket of the second half to pull the Catamounts to within seven points of Georgia. But Georgia answered in short order with four more treys.
A pair of free throws by Mercer with 14:27 to play restored Georgia's 18-point edge, and then Mercer gradually built on it. He followed with an alley-oop dunk and free throw, an acrobatic layup in transition and another layup and free throw to give the Bulldogs a 63-40 lead midway through the second half.
Georgia was on pace to challenge its single-game record of 19 3-point shots made before switching tactics the last 14 minutes of the game. The Bulldogs tried few 3-pointers the rest of the game and made only one, when Kevin Brophy's pass for an alley-oop to Kendrick Johnson swished through the basket instead.