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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Shane Battier followed the one hard and fast rule he received from Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in the preseason: keep shooting.
The 6-foot-8 junior took his coach up on his advise Wednesday night, shaking off a poor shooting first half to score 14 of his 19 points in the second half as Duke (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) used a late run to beat Georgia Tech 82-57.
|  | | Duke's Jason Williams knocks the ball away from Georgia Tech's Clarence Moore. |
"I told him during one timeout, `We're going to stop diagraming plays for you,"' Krzyzewski joked. "I think that is being a
veteran. He has confidence that his next shot is his first shot."
Battier, who started the game 1-for-7, said he felt comfortable
with his shot in the first 20 minutes, the ball just wasn't
dropping. He then went 6-for-9 in the second half once he settled
into the flow of the game.
"You are going to have those days. I felt like I took great
shots," Battier said. "I came out in the second half still with
an aggressive attitude, and after I hit my first shot, I relaxed
and let it come to me."
The Blue Devils (12-2, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their 12th straight overall and 25th straight regular-season conference
game. Duke also extended its home winning streak to 43 games,
placing six players in double figures.
Georgia Tech (7-7, 0-2) lost for the seventh straight time to
Duke and for the 23rd time in the last 27 games in Cameron Indoor
Stadium.
"Duke is a special program," Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins said. "I would hate to imagine what their record is in this
building over the last 10 years. I can't say enough about Mike and
his basketball team."
Battier scored 10 points during a 16-4 Duke run that turned an
eight-point lead into a 70-50 score with 4:38 left. He closed the
run with a pair of 3-pointers that sent Cameron into a frenzy as
Duke outscored Georgia Tech 26-11 over the final 9:17.
"I really liked our position for a while there," Cremins said.
"But they might have been waiting for us to crack -- and boom. If
you want to beat them you can't crack."
Alvin Jones led the Yellow Jackets with 19 points and 13
rebounds. Jason Collier, second in the ACC in points and rebounds,
added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Duke pushed a four-point lead early in the second half to 11 as Georgia Tech managed just two baskets in a seven-minute span. But
the Blue Devils struggled to put the Yellow Jackets away until
Battier caught fire late.
Duke had scored 100 or more points in four of its last six
games, but the Yellow Jackets held the score down this time with
solid interior defense from the 7-footer Collier and 6-11 Jones.
Georgia Tech also benefited from Duke's cold outside shooting early. The Blue Devils, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the ACC, were only 4-for-12 from beyond the arc in the opening 20
minutes before heating up in the second half.
Neither team led by more than four points in a close first half
before Jason Williams hit a 3-pointer and a 12-footer, and Battier
sank a long-range shot for a 36-29 lead.
But the Yellow Jackets, who led at the half in their past two
losses to Kentucky and Virginia, closed to 38-33 at intermission.
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