DURHAM, NC - After scoring only ten field goals in the first half, the Duke Blue Devils used a 17-6 run to open the second half and put the Virginia men's basketball team away for good.
A first half that seemed to preview a nail-biter turned out to be a tease, as the Blue Devils (18-1, 6-1 ACC) picked it up in the second half to beat the Cavaliers (14-3, 4-3), 94-81 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
In the first half, Virginia stayed tight behind the efforts of its freshmen. Jason Clark came off the bench to lead the Cavaliers in scoring at the half, with 11 points and five rebounds on 5-of-5 shooting. Elton Brown was the half's second leading scorer with eight points off the bench by halftime. Brown finished with 12 points and four rebounds.
Clark and Brown chose the right time to step up: Virginia star guard Roger Mason, Jr. scored only two points during the first half, although he posted 15 by the end of the game. Junior center Travis Watson - who totaled nine points - was on the bench for the last ten minutes of the first half after collecting three early fouls.
"We played aggressively and they called fouls on us," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "Travis Watson got a couple of tough calls. That's a part of the game. It's tough when a great player gets in foul trouble. It's tough to win."
Watson wasn't the only one experiencing foul problems, however, as the Cavaliers were called for a season-high 31 fouls, 23 in the first half. Duke capitalized on the loose whistles, turning those first-half fouls into 18 points.
"We are playing our game better," Clark said. "We had some trouble with fouls, but our team has some things to be proud of looking back at the first half."
The second half was all about the Blue Devils. They came out smoking behind the transition baskets of both Jason Williams, who scored 27 points, and Carlos Boozer, who went for 25 points and nine rebounds.
After a J.C. Mathis jumper put the Cavaliers up 44-42, Duke's Carlos Boozer scored on a three-point play to give the Blue Devils a one-point lead, which they would not relinquish.
The trouble compounded for the Cavaliers when Clark came in and picked up two quick fouls, putting Virginia's most effective player of the first half out of the game.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Cavaliers found themselves down 54-48, and missed their next eight shots. Suddenly they were down 11 and effectively out of the game.
Virginia had stayed in the game with tough defense against Duke (35.7% FG) in the first half, and good shooting from the field (47.2% FG) but the nation's number one team proved to be just that, trampling Virginia's hopes of a second-half resurgence.
"I'm very proud of our team," Gillen said. "I thought we played very hard against a great Duke team. We played with courage in a very tough environment"
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