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McRoberts, Duke rout undermanned Boston College

Jan 29, 2007 - 3:29 AM DURHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- With Shelden Williams on hand, Josh McRoberts did his best impersonation of his former teammate.

Dominating the paint, McRoberts collected 16 points and 13 rebounds and DeMarcus Nelson scored 17 as 10th-ranked Duke continued its dominance over Boston College with a 75-61 Atlantic Coast Conference victory.

After notching a pair of two-point wins over the Eagles last season, including a dramatic win in the ACC championship game, the Blue Devils (18-3, 5-2 ACC) took advantage of the undermanned Eagles, who were forced to press on without dismissed forward Sean Williams.

"(To prepare), I watched the games that (Williams) hasn't played in," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Everyone changes. The thing about it is that they've been off since Tuesday, so in watching those two games, we didn't know if there would be something new from them. They're going to do something a little bit different."

A two-time national defensive player of the year and current member of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, Shelden Williams had his number retired by Duke in an emotional halftime ceremony. Known for his shot-blocking ability and rugged interior play, he was a constant force in the lane for the Blue Devils.

"I knew Josh would be good on defense, but he's really become outstanding on defense," Krzyzewski said. "He's like a little bit of a protector. He hasn't done that the whole year, it's kind of like he evolved into it because we play better defense than we did last year.

"Him anchoring us this year is not like Shelden anchoring us, but it's very good. We have to make sure we don't allow too much penetration because that's how he gets in foul trouble, kind of like what they used to try to do to Shelden. Josh has done a great job on the defensive end."

On Sunday, however, McRoberts took a page out of his former teammate's book, making his biggest contribution defensively and on the glass. The 6-10 forward also shot 6-of-10 from the field - mostly on strong moves to the basket - and 4-of-4 on free throws.

Trailing for the entire game, Boston College cut its deficit to 63-57 on Tyrelle Blair's dunk with 4:58 left in the game. But the Blue Devils closed the game on a decisive 12-4 run to secure the victory.

"We'd get close, get a chance to get even, get within six or four and then we made a mistake," Eagles coach Al Skinner said. "We just can't afford that because we really didn't turn them over and didn't really create a lot of turnovers to get easy baskets for us. So, it was important that we play close to mistake-free basketball."

Jared Dudley scored 17 points for the Eagles (14-6, 6-2), who shot just 35 percent (20-of-58).