DURHAM, N.C. (AP) (Jan. 12) – Shane Battier shook off a poor shooting first half to score 19 points as No. 6 Duke used a late run to beat Georgia Tech 82-57 Wednesday night.
| Highlight: Tech’s Jason Collier hits the jumper from downtown. [256k .MOV] |
Georgia Tech (7-7, 0-2) lost for the seventh straight time to Duke and for the 23rd time in the last 27 games in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Battier was 1-for-7 from the field in the opening half, but scored 10 points during a 16-4 Duke run that turned an eight-point lead into a 70-50 score with 4:38 left.
The 6-foot-8 junior closed the run with a pair of 3-pointers that sent Cameron into a frenzy as Duke outscored Georgia Tech 26-11 over the final 9:17.
Alvin Jones led the Yellow Jackets with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Jason Collier, second in the ACC in points and rebounds, added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
| Georgia Tech’s Jon Babul (23) battles Duke’s Carlos Boozer (4) for a rebound in the first half Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.(AP Photo/Grant Halverson) |
Duke pushed a four-point lead early in the second half to 11 as Georgia Tech managed just two baskets in a seven-minute span. But the Blue Devils struggled to put the Yellow Jackets away until Battier caught fire late.
Duke had scored 100 or more points in four of its last six games, but the Yellow Jackets held the score down this time with solid interior defense from the 7-footer Collier and 6-11 Jones.
Georgia Tech also benefited from Duke’s cold outside shooting early. The Blue Devils, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the ACC, were only 4-for-12 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes before heating up in the second half.
Neither team led by more than four points in a close first half before Jason Williams hit a 3-pointer and a 12-footer, and Battier sank a long-range shot for a 36-29 lead.
But the Yellow Jackets, who led at the half in their past two losses to Kentucky and Virginia, closed to 38-33 at intermission.
