Coach K adds another Trophy as Duke Beats Marquette to win the Maui Invitational

AHAINA, Hawaii (AP) -- It took Kyle Singler five games to place himself on an elite list of Duke basketball players.

The freshman forward scored 25 points, including the clinching free throws with 13 seconds to play, and fought off a leg injury to lead the Blue Devils to a 77-73 victory over Marquette on Wednesday night and claim their fourth EA Sports Maui Invitational championship.

Duke (5-0) won the title here in 1992, 1997 and 2001. The Blue Devils' first 11 wins in the tourney came by an average of 18.9 points and nine were by at least 10 points. This one went down to the final seconds.

No other school has won more than two championships in the 24 years of this event.

Singler, who was 7-for-11 from the field and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, joined Bobby Hurley, current Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski and Mike Dunleavy as Blue Devils who have won the MVP at the Maui Invitational.

"I felt honored to win the MVP but the main goal coming to Maui was to win the championship and that's what we accomplished," he said. "I just wanted to do what I had to do and it meant I got the MVP."

DeMarcus Nelson added 16 points for the Blue Devils, whose fans were chanting "our house" in the final minute and as the awards were being presented.

"This was special for this team. It was a chance for us to be a champion," Nelson said. "We talked about that since the beginning of the year. It was our first chance to be a champion. At this time last year we didn't do that. We've improved and gotten better."

Duke took a 67-61 lead with 6:03 to go on a low move by Lance Thomas off a pass from Singler, his only assist of the game.

The lead was six one more time, before Maurice Acker hit a 3 for the Golden Eagles and Ousmane Barro made one of two free throws to get Marquette within 69-67 with 4:42 left.

The Golden Eagles were within 75-73 with 33 seconds left on a layup by Jerel McNeal.

Singler grabbed a loose ball and was fouled. He made the first free throw and Marquette called a timeout, trying to freeze the freshman.

"I knew I was going to make it," Singler said of the second free throw, "there was no doubt in my mind I was going to make it a two-possession game."