The Secretariat of college basketball, No. 1-ranked Duke University, ran away from Brigham Young University, 89-66, Wednesday night in the championship game of the Maui Invitational.
The Blue Devils are a group of disciplined thoroughbreds. Their pressure defense prevented BYU from making a serious charge, negating the opportunity for any last-second heroics that had carried the Cougars past Oklahoma and Memphis State in the first two tourney rounds.With co-tourney MVP Bobby Hurley slicing through BYU's defense and dishing off to Grant Hill and Thomas Hill for high-percentage shots, the Blue Devils responded every time BYU went on a mini-run to threaten to get within 10 points in the second half.
The Cougars were knocked out of their rhythm early and never seemed to be comfortable against Duke.
Their three-point shot attempts, except late in the second half, were hurried, the Cougars going 0-for-5 in the first half, when the game was decided.
"I thought the game was established in the first five minutes and we never recovered. We couldn't afford to get way down early," said BYU coach Roger Reid.
The Cougars committed five turnovers in their first eight possessions; to help Duke turn a 5-4 lead into a 12-4 advantage four minutes into the game.
The stretch that buried the Cougars came after the teams swapped baskets and Shane Knight closed the gap to 22-16 on a jump shot with 11:20 left in the half.
Over the next five minutes Duke outscored BYU 15-3, to go up 37-19. It was an insurmountable margin against a team as talented as the two-time defending national champions.
Down 48-31 at the half, the Cougars had to spread the floor and take chances to try to get back in the game.
For Duke's chief resident surgeon, Dr. Hurley, that was like opening the hen house for the wolf. He sliced and diced in his All-American fashion as Duke increased its lead to as many as 26 points.
But Reid didn't have much choice. With their big lead, the Blue Devils were taking a lot of time off the clock when the Cougars weren't pressing them.
Reid was not happy with the way his team played. "We got our tail kicked tonight . . . I think we have a lot to learn to be a great basketball team."
Duke's an outstanding team, but Reid wouldn't say they can't be beat.
"They would have a tough time coming into Provo and UTEP. I don't think they're awesome but our team played like they were."
Center Gary Trost added that "We wanted to be a little more respectable than we were tonight. That's what I'm disappointed in . . . Give them a lot of credit . . . They forced us into a lot of our turnovers."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was pleased with the intensity his team showed in all three tournament games. He was complimentary about the way his bench played and his team's defense on three-point shots.
It was important for the bench to come through, he said, because of BYU's frontcourt depth. "They're so big and strong they're very difficult to defend in the post . . . The team we beat tonight is a very good team."
Like a lot of others, They weren't very good against Duke, however. The Cougars barely topped 50 percent in free-throw shooting, making 11 of 20, and were outrebounded, 40 to 33. They committed about their average number of turnovers, 21, and had the ball stolen 10 times.
Russell Larson led BYU in scoring with 16 points while Trost added 13 and Nick Sanderson 11.
Grant Hill led the Blue Devils with 27 while Thomas Hill added 21 and Hurley 14 to go along with his 11 assists. Those three were on the all-tournament team along with co-MVP Anfernee Hardaway of Memphis State and Geert Hammink of LSU.
Krzyzewski thought Thomas Hill was his team's MVP and he said so did Hurley as Hurley gave his trophy to Hill.
Overall Reid said the team did well during the three-day event. "There were eight teams here and we came away in second place."
The Cougars return to action next week in another tournament, the Far West Classic.
In other Maui Invitational play: Third place
Memphis St. 70, Louisiana St. 66
Anfernee Hardaway wasn't as spectacular as he was in the earlier two games, but he was still the difference for Memphis State (4-4) as his rebound of his own miss with 24 seconds to play was the game-winner. Hardaway finished with 20 points, well off his 33- and 37-point efforts in the first two games, and he fell three points shy of the tournament scoring record set last year by Chaminade guard George Gilmore.
Billy Smith's 22 points led Memphis State, the first time this season anybody but Hardaway led the Tigers in scoring.
Fifth place
No. 9 Oklahoma 108, DePaul 94
Bryatt Vann, who missed Tuesday's game with a toe injury, came back with a career-high 35 points as the Sooners (7-1) fought off foul foul problems for the victory. Vann had 25 points at halftime, 15 from 3-point range.
Seventh place
Chaminade 71, Stanford 63, 2OT
The Silverswords (2-3) won for just the third time in 23 games as host of the tournament. Joachim Jerichow, a 6-9 sophomore forward from Denmark, scored five points in the final 1:43 of the second overtime. Stanford (3-4) had a chance to win the game at the end of both regulation and the first overtime.