Nov 20, 2008 - 6:23 AM
0 shoutsNo. 5 Duke (3-0) vs. Southern Illinois (2-0), 7:00 p.m. EST
NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Duke is hoping the tense moments it faced in its last contest will prove beneficial at Madison Square Garden.
The fifth-ranked Blue Devils go for their fourth straight win on Thursday when they take on Southern Illinois in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
The winner will move to face either fourth-ranked UCLA or Michigan in the finals on Friday.
Duke (3-0) advanced to the semifinals with wins over Presbyterian and Georgia Southern, respectively. The Blue Devils had to sweat out an 82-79 victory over Rhode Island in a non-tournament contest on Sunday.
Kyle Singler scored 21 points and made two key free throws late as Duke rallied to win with an 11-2 run after trailing for the majority of the second half. Singler leads the team in scoring at 19.7 points per game.
"(Rhode Island) played almost a perfect game and our kids had to do some very good things in order to win," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was a high level and any games in the Garden will be high level when you have these four programs coming in."
Southern Illinois (2-0) advanced with wins over California University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Carlton Fay leads the Salukis in scoring at 16.5 points per game and Bryan Mullins is averaging 11.5 and 10.5 assists.
From the Bleachers
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DUKE: 83
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: 58
Final
Nov 20 9:17 PM -
DUKE: 29
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: 23
Halftime
Nov 20 8:00 PM
