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Plumlee carries Duke past Elon

Duke forward Mason Plumlee (5) shoots in front of Ryley Beaumont during the ÿrst half of Thursday’s game in Durham, N.C. Plumlee ÿ nished with 21 points and 15 rebounds as No. 1 Duke beat Elon 76-54.
Duke forward Mason Plumlee (5) shoots in front of Ryley Beaumont during the ÿrst half of Thursday’s game in Durham, N.C. Plumlee ÿ nished with 21 points and 15 rebounds as No. 1 Duke beat Elon 76-54.

— Duke’s shooters didn’t need to be as accurate as usual — not with Mason Plumlee dominating inside the way he did.

Plumlee had 21 points and 15 rebounds, and the topranked Blue Devils beat Elon 76-54 on Thursday night for their 100th consecutive nonconference victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ryan Kelly added 14 points, freshman Rasheed Sulaimon had 13 and the Blue Devils (11-0) held a 43-32 rebounding advantage — the first time this season they outrebounded an opponent by more than 10. Their 15 offensive rebounds led to 19 second-chance points.

“If we can add rebounding to what we do, I think that’ll take us to another level as a team,” Plumlee said.

Playing on back-to-back nights, Duke counted on its defense to pick up an offense that was off on more open shots than usual.

“I thought we were mentally tired. You could see it in our faces,” Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The season is not going to be a perfect one, and I’m proud that we kept playing defense.”

Duke shot 43 percent but forced 17 turnovers and turned them into 19 points while holding the Phoenix to just five offensive rebounds. Put another way: Plumlee and Quinn Cook — Duke’s 6-1 point guard — each had seven defensive rebounds, meaning they each had more rebounds under Elon’s basket than all of the Phoenix did.

“I just wanted to get down and help Mason out,” Cook said with a smile. “We’ve allowed Mason to grab all the rebounds. Coach puts a big emphasis to get a lot of the rebounds, so I just wanted to get in there and snag some loose balls.”

Sebastian Koch scored 14 points but Elon (6-5) was denied its first victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 2005.

“We had little lapses in the second half, which is particularly seen in the way we gave up offensive rebounds,” Elon Coach Matt Matheny said. “That allowed the spread to get away from us, but we did compete.”

Cook added 10 points for Duke, which hasn’t lost to a non-ACC team at Cameron Indoor Stadium since falling to St. John’s on Feb. 26, 2000.

The Blue Devils took control by outscoring Elon 29-10 during a defense-driven 13-minute stretch that began in the first half and ended midway through the second. Tyler Thornton connected on two three-pointers 30 seconds apart before Sulaimon capped it with a three that made it 54-35 with about 10:45 to go. Thornton then made it a 20-point game for the first time when his jumper with 6 1/2 minutes left made it 63-43.

“You have to just muck things out for a while, and then all of a sudden, we got that spurt,” Krzyzewski said. “We were missing some wideopen shots, and then Tyler [Thornton] hit those two and it just kind of exploded.”

That capped a rather successful four-day span for the Blue Devils, who returned to No. 1 for the first time since February 2011, rolled to a couple of nonconference victories and picked up a nationally televised oral commitment from Jabari Parker, one of the most highly touted recruits in years. NCAA rules prohibit schools from commenting publicly on recruits who haven’t signed their letters of intent, and Parker can’t do that until April 17.

Plumlee, who has scored at least 16 points in every game, finished with his fourth 20-point performance of the season and picked up a pair of senior classmates whose shooting was a bit off: Seth Curry, who has played all season with persistent shin pain, was 3 of 10 while Kelly was 4 of 13.

The Blue Devils also had a short bench: Marshall Plumlee, Mason’s younger brother who played two minutes Wednesday night against Cornell in his season debut, wore a boot to protect his slightly sprained left foot, leaving Duke with just nine scholarship players. He missed nine games with a stress fracture in that foot, but Krzyzewski said there was no reason for concern.

Lucas Troutman had 13 points and Jack Isenbarger finished with 12 for Elon.

NO. 2 MICHIGAN 93,

EASTERN MICHIGAN 54

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Tim Hardaway Jr. had 17 points and a career-high seven assists to help No. 2 Michigan rout Eastern Michigan.

The Wolverines (12-0) are off to their best start since winning the first 16 games of the 1985-86 season.

The Eagles (6-4) have lost two consecutive since beating Purdue.

Michigan trailed 6-2 in the opening minutes, then took control with a 20-0 run. The Wolverines led 40-24 at halftime and enjoyed an even bigger cushion for much of the second half.

Eastern Michigan’s Daylen Harrison scored 13 points and Glen Bryant had 10.

Michigan’s Trey Burke had 11 points and eight assists. Nik Stauskas made 3 three-pointers in the first half and finished with 16 points, while fellow freshman Mitch McGary had 10 points and 11 rebounds and Glenn Robinson III added 13 points for the Wolverines.

Burke, the reigning Big Ten player of the week, took the ball from Jalen Ross on the first possession of the game and made a layup.

Ross responded with a three-pointer and Bryant made another shot from beyond the arc to give the Eagles a four-point lead that proved to be their highlight of the night. Michigan used a balanced offense and aggressive defense to build a 22-6 lead.

Ross had nine points in the first half but the rest of the Eagles starters scored just seven points combined. Ross didn’t score after halftime.

Jordan Morgan made a low-post shot and a midrange jumper on Michigan’s first two possessions of the second half. The Wolverines led by 30-plus points with 14 minutes left and coasted to another lopsided victory.

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NO. 22 TEXAS A&M 78, OLD DOMINION 55

LAS VEGAS — Kelsey Bone scored a career-high 33 points to lead Texas A&M over Old Dominion in the World Vision Classic. Bone was 15 of 18 from the field and had 14 rebounds. Kristi Bellock scored 12 points and reserve Peyton Little added 10. Adrienne Pratcher had 12 assists for the Aggies, who led 36-28 at halftime. Texas A&M (8-3) shot 32 of 72 (44.4 percent) from the field, while Old Dominion (7-2) shot 23 of 54 (42.6 percent). Shae Kelley led the Lady Monarchs with 11 points and seven rebounds. Jackie Cook had 10 points.

Sports, Pages 23 on 12/21/2012

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