Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Duke rolls over New Mexico State 86-61


DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Jon Scheyer is playing less and producing more.

Duke's one-time starting shooting guard came off the bench and scored 22 points to lead the 13th-ranked Blue Devils to an 86-61 rout of New Mexico State on Monday night.

Scheyer, who as a freshman started 31 of 32 games and averaged about 34 minutes, is playing about eight fewer minutes per game this season as a reserve on a much deeper Duke team.

This time he was 4-of-6 from 3-point range, threatened his career-high of 26 points and continued to establish himself as one of coach Mike Krzyzewski's most productive sixth men -- even if Coach K still considers him a starter.

"Right away, coming off the bench is a different thing -- I've never really done it in my life," Scheyer said. "So my whole mentality coming into a game is different. Usually, I'm getting geared up to go when 20 minutes is on the clock. Now, it's a couple of minutes in."

DeMarcus Nelson scored 14 points, Gerald Henderson had 11 and Kyle Singler added 10 for the Blue Devils (2-0), who shot 47 percent, forced 26 turnovers and built a 31-point lead and cruised to their second straight rout of an outmanned nonconference opponent.

Last year's lowest-scoring team in the Atlantic Coast Conference (70.9 ppg) is deeper this season and is playing at a faster, more frenetic pace, averaging 103.5 points. And after a huge first-half run carried them to their 53rd straight nonconference home victory -- the longest such streak in the nation -- they must turn their attention to next week's trip to the Maui Invitational.

"We have a lot of guys who can score, who can make plays," Nelson said. "We also have that same presence defensively, also. We have more guys that can defend, and guys from last year got better defending, so we're really starting to develop a really good team, offensively and defensively."

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