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Duke crushes Robert Morris in NCAA opener

Mar 21, 2015 - 4:47 AM Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Quinn Cook scored 22 points to power top-seeded Duke to an 85-56 win over Robert Morris in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Jahlil Okafor, the ACC Player of the Year, netted 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Marshall Plumlee posted his first double-double with 10 points and 10 boards for the Blue Devils (30-4), who will face San Diego State in the third round of the South Region on Sunday.

"I thought our defense was excellent tonight and we obviously shared the ball really well," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Quinn had another outstanding game. We feel good about our performance."

Rodney Pryor and Marcquise Reed scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, for the 16th-seeded Colonials (20-15), who were coming off a First Four win over North Florida on Wednesday.

"I thought our guys continued to battle regardless of score and I'm very proud of that," Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole said. "Would have liked to have made a couple more shots or been a little more poised offensively at times, but I thought we competed the way we wanted to compete. But it wasn't enough."

After Aaron Tate's tip-in gave the Colonials a 7-5 lead, Cook and Tyus Jones hit back-to-back 3s to start an 11-0 Duke run which was capped on another Cook trey for a 16-9 margin less than five minutes into the game.

Reed briefly halted the streaking Blue Devils with a jumper, but Jones hit a jumper of his own to start a 10-0 spurt for a 26-9 game with 10:46 left in the first half.

Duke kept its distance for the rest of the half as it owned a 42-25 lead at the break. The Blue Devils shot 63 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, with Cook's 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting leading the barrage.

A Matt Jones triple pushed Duke's lead to 54-34 just over five minutes into the second half, but Robert Morris briefly made things interesting.

Pryor nailed consecutive 3-pointers and Lucky Jones and Pryor each went in for a layup to get the Colonials within 54-44 with 12:26 to play.

The Blue Devils immediately responded with a Justise Winslow triple and put the Colonials away with a 12-0 run, which was capped on an Amile Jefferson layup for a 68-46 score with 8:29 remaining.

Duke led by as much as 31 down the stretch.

Game Notes

Duke is playing as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time ... The Blue Devils recorded their 14th 30-win season ... It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs for basketball ... Duke shot 63 percent and limited Robert Morris to 36.4 percent ... The Blue Devils outrebounded the Colonials, 40-28 ... Duke moved to 100-34 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and 83-26 under Krzyzewski ... The Blue Devils became the third school to win 100 NCAA Tournament games, joining Kentucky and North Carolina.