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No. 5 Duke gets easy win over North Carolina State

Feb 6, 2011 - 5:01 AM Durham, NC (Sports Network) - Nolan Smith tallied 20 points with seven assists as No. 5 Duke routed North Carolina State, 76-52, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Mason Plumlee contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils (21-2, 8-1 ACC), who have won six of their last seven games. Kyle Singler posted 14 points and Seth Curry added 13 in the easy victory.

"[In the first half], we played the way we wanted to play," Smith said. "We came out, played defense, and we were playing together and hitting shots. It was just pretty much a near-perfect first half that we played. It was just fun playing. [In the second half], guys got comfortable. Of course we wanted to stay on them and keep playing, but we didn't. That's something we'll have to get better at and just grow up as a team."

Richard Howell poured in 18 points for the Wolfpack (12-11, 2-7), who have dropped four in a row and seven of eight. Lorenzo Brown had 15 points and nine boards in the loss.

Duke broke open a close game with a 21-2 run in the first half. Smith hit two from the line to make it 12-8, then Andre Dawkins and Smith hit consecutive triples to extend the lead to 18-8. Plumlee added three straight buckets and Curry capped the run with a jumper for a 31-10 contest.

Curry then connected from long distance with 3:49 to play in the half and the visitors worked up a 45-21 advantage, eventually taking a 53-24 edge to the break.

The outcome was never in doubt in the second half. Duke led by at least 20 points throughout, eventually cracking the 30-point barrier with 7:50 remaining on two more Smith free throws.

Singler then made two at the line less than 30 seconds later to push the margin to 73-40, and the Blue Devils finally took their foot off the gas.

"Obviously we dug ourselves a big hole early," N.C. State head coach Sidney Lowe said. "That was a result of a couple of things, I thought we took a couple of bad shots, some one-pass shots, and then some no-pass shots where we dribbled around and shot some floaters. We worked on and talked about in the locker room and on the board that we can't have those one-pass and no-pass shots against a team like this because it's like a turnover and they're coming back at you."

Game Notes

Duke hit for 64.5 percent from the field in the first half but responded with less than 20 percent in the second half...NC State suspended freshman C.J. Leslie for Saturday's game due to violating an unspecified team rule.