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Hood, Blue Devils ease past Hokies

Feb 26, 2014 - 3:20 AM Durham, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Rodney Hood had 21 points, Rasheed Sulaimon scored 15 and No. 6 Duke beat Virginia Tech 66-48 on Tuesday.

Jabari Parker added 11 points and 12 rebounds for Duke (23-6, 12-4 ACC), which was coming off Saturday's win over then-No. 1 Syracuse in another thriller between the new conference rivals that capped a stretch of four games in eight days for the Blue Devils, including a loss to North Carolina.

"Five games in 11 days -- it's been a grueling stretch," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "It's kind of like ... getting that last bit of toothpaste out of (the tube). Today was kind of like, let's get it out there."

The Blue Devils started hot against Virginia Tech, taking a 20-point lead just 10 minutes into the game. They let the Hokies back in before running away with it in the second half.

Duke stretched its home winning streak to 32 games and held an opponent under 70 points at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the 12th game in a row.

Trevor Thompson scored 15 points to lead Virginia Tech (9-18, 2-13), which fell to 1-13 in its last 14 games after a third straight loss.

Duke has two games left in the regular season beginning with a road test at Wake Forest on March 5. It ends the season three days later at home against North Carolina.

The Hokies have three games remaining, starting with North Carolina at home on Saturday.

The Blue Devils went nearly four minutes without scoring after a Sulaimon 3 gave them a 24-4 lead midway through the first half. Virginia Tech used a 12-2 run to pull within 10 and was down 32-20 at halftime.

"We didn't get the push we normally get from the bench," said Krzyzewski.

The Hokies were within seven early in the second half but Duke pulled away.

"I thought our guys were a little shell-shocked to start, just with the environment," said Virginia Tech coach James Johnson.

Sulaimon, who was 4-for-9 on 3-pointers, made one to give the Blue Devils a 42-29 lead. Virginia Tech scored the next five points but was never closer than that the rest of the way and Duke led by as many as 20 late.

Game Notes

The Blue Devils were 10-of-33 from 3-point range and shot just 38.7 percent overall ... The Hokies shot 42.6 percent and had just eight assists on 20 baskets.