Wednesday, December 20, 2006
No. 2 North Carolina rolled past Florida Atlantic, 105-52.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DURHAM, N.C. -- Josh McRoberts had 11 of his 19 points in the second half and sparked the decisive spurt to help No. 6 Duke rally past Kent State 79-72 on Tuesday night.
DeMarcus Nelson scored 18 points for the Blue Devils (10-1), who had to fight off a determined opponent to extend their nonconference home winning streak to a national-best 49 games. Freshman Jon Scheyer added 17 points.
Omni Smith scored a career-high 33 points on 14-for-20 shooting to lead the Golden Flashes (5-4), who shot 51 percent and led by three points midway through the second half before Duke pushed ahead for good. Haminn Quaintance had 10 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for Kent State.
McRoberts -- a 6-foot-10 sophomore -- led the way for Duke with a terrific all-around effort. He finished with six rebounds, six blocks, four assists and four steals in 36 minutes.
With the score tied at 57, McRoberts put Duke ahead to stay with a hook in the lane over Quaintance at the 8-minute mark. He followed that by rebounding a missed jumper from Mike Scott and taking it the length of the court to draw a foul and hit a free throw.
Then, after connecting on another hook over Quaintance, he leaped for a high alley-oop pass from Nelson and tipped it in with his right hand for a 67-57 lead with five minutes left.
Kent State managed one late push, cutting an 11-point lead to 72-67 and getting a steal that sent Smith on his way for what looked to be a layup. But Greg Paulus managed to strip Smith on the way up, giving the ball back to Duke with a little over a minute left.
No. 2 North Carolina 105, Florida Atlantic 52
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Tyler Hansbrough scored 20 points and No. 2 North Carolina used an overwhelming first half to rout Florida Atlantic.
Brandan Wright added 15 points, and Reyshawn Terry and Wayne Ellington each had 14 for the Tar Heels (9-1), who won their sixth straight and reached 100 points for the fourth time this season.
North Carolina played one of the most dominating first halves in school history, shooting 74 percent from the field, holding Florida Atlantic (4-6) scoreless for more than 8 minutes, scoring 24 consecutive points and leading by what's believed to be a school-record 47 points at halftime.
No. 8 Wichita St. 74, Kennesaw St. 65
WICHITA, Kan. -- Ryan Martin scored a career-high 19 points, and No. 8 Wichita State remained undefeated by holding off Kennesaw State in the second round of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic.
P.J. Couisnard added 15 points and tied a career high with seven assists for the Shockers (9-0).
No. 11 Kansas 94, Winston Salem 43
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Brandon Rush and Julian Wright each scored 15 points and No. 11 Kansas got its running game in high gear.
Five players scored in double figures for the Jayhawks (9-2).
No. 19 Marquette 80, Oakland 62
MILWAUKEE -- Dominic James had 20 points and nine assists to lead Marquette.
Jerel McNeal added 17 points, six steals, five rebounds and four assists for the Golden Eagles (11-2), who had 27 fast-break points to none for Oakland, and shot a season-best 59.2 percent from the field.
Erik Kangas had 16 points for Oakland (6-8), which shot 31.4 percent and had just six field goals in the second half.
No. 20 Notre Dame 86, Portland 69
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Russell Carter scored a career-high 28 points, Rob Kurz had 21 andNotre Dame made a season-high 34 free throws to overcome its worst shooting game this season for its eighth straight victory.
The Irish (9-1) fell behind by five points at the start of the game and trailed by six less than six minutes in as they were just 1-of-7 from the field. But the Irish finished the first half on a 10-2 run and opened the second half with a 10-5 spurt to take control.
Drexel 84, No. 23 Syracuse 79
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Frank Elegar had 27 points and 10 rebounds and Dominick Mejia had 16 points for surprising Drexel.
It was the fifth straight victory for Drexel (7-2) and its third in a row over teams it had struggled against over the years.