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Smith leads Duke past Montana

Nov 23, 2008 - 9:51 PM DURHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Nolan Smith scored 12 of his 14 points in a first-half surge as fifth-ranked Duke coasted to a 78-58 victory over Montana on Sunday.

Moved into a starting role this season in place of Greg Paulus, Smith was one of four players in double figures for the Blue Devils (6-0), who have won five of their six games by double digits.

Behind Smith, who made 5-of-7 shots and a pair of 3-pointers in the first half, the Blue Devils opened a commanding 47-28 advantage at intermission en route to cruising to their 63rd straight non-conference win at

Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I just want him to keep developing," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He's got a tough position, and it wears on you mentally, not just physically, when you're responsible for running the team."

Gerald Henderson added 14 points, Kyle Singler 13 and Jon Scheyer 12 for Duke, which shot 47 percent (29-of-62) and made 16-of-23 free throws.

After winning the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the Blue Devils were actually sluggish in this early start.

However, the Blue Devils took control with a dominant eight-minute stretch in which they made 13 of 15 shots to build a 36-20 lead. Smith scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting during that stretch.

"We needed a wake-up call," Smith said. "It's been a long week for us, getting back from New York and a quick turnaround with this (afternoon) game. Everybody needed a little wake-up call. We had to come to play, because nobody's going to come into Cameron and lay down for us. ... As a team, we started talking more. Once again, defensively (the team) picked it up and started going again."

Duke, which led by at least 13 points the entire second half, played without Paulus (forearm).

Jordan Hasquet scored 15 points to pace the Grizzlies (2-2), who committed 20 turnovers.

The Blue Devils shut down Grizzlies leading-scorer Ryan Staudacher, who missed all three of his shots and finished scoreless. He entered averaging 16.3 points.