Top 25: No. 1 Duke 90, Santa Clara 77

Top 25 basketball » Duke won its 101st consecutive nonconference home game.

By JOEDY McCREARY

| The Associated Press

First Published Dec 29 2012 01:43 pm • Last Updated Dec 30 2012 12:18 am

Durham, N.C. • Seth Curry scored 12 of his season-high 31 points during the late run that helped No. 1 Duke pull away for a 90-77 victory over pesky Santa Clara on Saturday.

Mason Plumlee added 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Blue Devils (12-0), who needed a huge run late to overcome both a big game from Kevin Foster and a real scare from the Broncos (11-3).

Foster scored 18 of his 29 points in the first half for upset-minded Santa Clara, and his soaring baseline dunk put the Broncos up 45-41 with 16 minutes, 30 seconds left.

But the Broncos managed just one field goal over the next 8 1/2 minutes, and that gave Duke just enough of an opening to break open this one.

Curry hit two 3-pointers and followed with three layups during the 26-5 run that gave the Blue Devils a bit of breathing room. Quinn Cook’s steal and layup capped the burst and made it 67-50 with 8:30 to play.

Curry, who was 12 of 18 from the field with four 3s, finished with his best scoring day as a Blue Devil but came up short of the 35 he scored against VMI while a freshman at Liberty in 2008-09.

Ryan Kelly had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Cook finished with 15 points for Duke. Playing for the first time in nine days — and just the fifth time in December — it wasn’t anywhere near its best for much of this one.

The Blue Devils missed 10 of their first 18 free throws, had six shots blocked and regularly were outworked by the Broncos. But they were good enough when it counted to make it to 12-0 for the 10th time under coach Mike Krzyzewski and win their 101st straight nonconference game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

About Reader Comments

---

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account.
See more about comments here.