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Big second half helps Duke cruise past Southern Illinois

Nov 21, 2008 - 5:49 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Gerald Henderson scored all 20 of his points in the second half to lead No. 5 Duke to an 83-58 victory over Southern Illinois on Thursday in the 2008 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.

Illinois native Jon Scheyer added 13 points and six rebounds for the Blue Devils (4-0), who will play Michigan in the tournament final on Friday.

After being held to 32 percent shooting (6-for-19) while committing 15 turnovers in the first half, the Blue Devils stepped up in the final 20 minutes, putting on an offensive display while chopping the turnover count to two.

"We definitely have to take care of the ball a little bit more," Henderson said. "We have to think out there and just be a little smarter with our reads and how we're attacking their defense. We did that much better in the second half."

Henderson and Kyle Singler were both held scoreless on a combined 0-of-6 shooting in the first half but went 8-of-16 in the second to finish with 33 total points.

"(Gerald Henderson) played an outstanding half, and his reads coming off of one of our sets got him those three open threes along the baseline," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

The Salukis kept it close with their defensive effort, trailing, 29-23, at the half and pulling to within 32-29 on Carlton Fay's 3-pointer earlier in the second half.

"We're really pleased with the win," Krzyzewski said. "(Southern Illinois) plays outstanding defense and so do we, so points were really hard to come by. I thought their toughness knocked us back a little bit in the first half."

A 43-22 run over the next 14 minutes helped Duke pull away.

"They play really aggressive defense so you can't just run the plays, they're going to be there," Henderson said. "You have to read where they're going and just go the other way to make things easier for yourself. I kind of did that and my teammates found me and I was fortunate enough to hit some shots."

The Blue Devils grabbed the lead in the first half thanks to the Scheyer and center Ben Zoubek, who combined from 18 points.

"We got great contributions from Brian Zoubek," Krzyzewski said. "I thought Zoubek was the main reason we had a small lead at halftime."

Duke did much of its damage from the free-throw line, knocking down 40-of-47 from the stripe, including 24 straight at one point. The Salukis finished 12-of-19 at the line.

"We change our offense too when we get close to the bonus or double-bonus, where we drive it more," Krzyzewski said. "So that's what we tried to do today and our guys stepped up there and hit them. We should shoot a good number of free throws if we don't turn (the ball) over because we have fresh guys who like to drive."

Fay scored a career-high 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, but Southern Illinois shot just 35 percent (20-of-57) and was killed on the glass, getting outrebounded, 39-24.