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McRoberts, Scheyer spark Duke past Davidson

Nov 26, 2006 - 2:20 AM DURHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Davidson has never had much success playing Duke, but Saturday night was a particularly bad time for a visit.

Josh McRoberts and Jon Scheyer scored 14 points apiece as the eighth-ranked Blue Devils rolled to a 75-47 victory over the Wildcats.

Coming off a loss to Marquette in the title game of the CBE Classic, Duke rebounded to keep a couple of lengthy streaks intact.

The Blue Devils (5-1) beat the Wildcats for the 20th consecutive time and extended their home winning streak against non-conference foes to 44, the third-longest in the nation.

"I thought we responded well. We got beat by a good team who was older and tougher than we were in the second half," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the loss to Marquette. "You learn from that. It's like if you were a boxer. You've got to get in fights. You've got to get in games and you've got to get experience.

"We could practice forever and never learn the things we learned in Kansas City playing Air Force and Marquette."

Davidson was never in the game, with the exception of a brief six-point flurry by William Archambault that closed the deficit to 25-18 with 3:38 to play in the first half.

Duke merely responded by scoring the final nine points - five by the freshman Scheyer - to take a 34-18 advantage at halftime.

"We were a step slow, a step or two late consistently for rebounds, 50-50 balls, and help in the paint," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "I think that led to a significant number of points for Duke. Whether it was rebounding or post entries, we were certainly not in position.

"We were stretched too far out and did not offer the kind of team help that we had hoped to have."

Scheyer, who set a school record by making the first 14 free throws of his career, buried two more 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 42-25 with 16:28 left and the Blue Devils gradually pulled away.

"We really wanted to come out and send a message tonight and play really well, so I think we put a little pressure on ourselves from the beginning that wasn't needed," Scheyer said. "So I think once we calmed down and just relaxed and started to play, we started to do better. Our defense is always there, but I think our offense just needs to get into a rhythm."

McRoberts just missed a double-double, hitting 5-of-8 shots from the field and pulling down nine rebounds to go along with four assists and two blocks.

"We wanted to come out and play the best game that we can," McDonald said. "We were all disappointed coming off the loss and a lot of the guys didn't play as well as they would've liked. So we wanted to come out and play well tonight."

Jason Richards scored 17 points for Davidson (4-3), which lost four starters and five of its top six scorers from last season's NCAA Tournament team. The Wildcats shot just 28 percent (18-of-64) from the field and were 3-of-20 from the arc.

"They have a lot of pieces and you can just see them coming closer and closer together," McKillop said of Duke. "I've watched them from their opening game until their game against Marquette the other night and you just know it's a matter of time when those pieces all fit so well together."