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Redick Scores Just 11, but Duke Beats Temple 74-66
It was his lowest output of the season, but J.J. Redick's 11 points vs. Temple were enough to make the Duke guard the ACC's all-time scoring leader.
Not even his worst game of the season kept J.J. Redick from setting another record for No. 1 Duke. Redick's 11 points were enough to set the ACC career scoring record and Shelden Williams had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Blue Devils to a 74-66 win over Temple on Saturday.
Already holding the NCAA record for career 3-pointers and Duke's career scoring record, the nine points Redick needed to pass Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric for the Atlantic Coast Conference mark seemed like a mere formality.
Instead, it took much longer than anyone expected - all the way to the final minutes of Duke's (27-1) 10th straight win.
With flashbulbs popping throughout the Wachovia Center and photographers crammed behind the basket, Redick sank two free throws with 1:28 left to eclipse Hemric's career total of 2,587 points. The sold-out crowd gave him a standing ovation and his teammates patted him on the head as he went to the huddle for a timeout.
"I was just trying to extend the lead and kind of seal the game, that was what was going through my mind," Redick said. "I knew that I was there, but that wasn't the main focus."
Redick, the nation's second-leading scorer, hadn't scored fewer than 15 points in a game this season. He went 3-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Temple coach John Chaney - who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in 2001 - called Redick one of the greatest shooters he's ever seen.
"He has no fear," Chaney said. "You can knock him down, he's getting up."
Redick, though, had a subpar effort in his last game against Georgia Tech, missing 15 of his first 17 shots and finished with 22 points. Krzyzewski said the pressure of setting all these records may have affected his star guard.
"I could tell that this past week, even against Georgia Tech, he didn't have a lot of fun this week," he said. "He wants it over and now it's over. He can get back to being the great player that he is."
Looking to beat a No. 1 team for only the third time in team history, the Owls (15-11) made a late, spirited rush without Mardy Collins, their leading scorer who left for the locker room with a sprained foot.
Dustin Salisbery sank a 3-pointer that pulled the Owls within seven. Then Redick's errant pass off the backboard was rebounded by Mark Tyndale, who sprinted all the way for a layup that made it 61-56.
When Collins returned with 4 minutes left, the Blue Devils had regained control and led by 11. Collins got them to 66-58 with under 2 minutes left and Antywane Robinson hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds to go that made it a five-point game.
Temple, though, simply ran out of time, and ran out of hope to return to the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid.
"You can't put your fingers in any hole to stop this team," Chaney said.
Collins admirably tried to carry the Owls and finished with 26 points and nine rebounds. Robinson had 13 points and the Owls, who win with the 3, sank only four.
Temple's matchup zone did an outstanding job of nearly eliminating the long jumper and 3-point shots and took Redick out of the game. Redick was only 1-for-5 in the first half, and missed two straight 3s - the crowd gasping on every shot and groaning after every miss - that could have inched him closer to the scoring record.
"When he doesn't have his look, I think it has a negative impact on our team," Krzyzewski said.
With double teams and a box-in-1 making Redick play more like a wet match than dynamite, Williams was left all alone inside and he exploited his opportunities. He scored 18 points in the first half, most on easy layups. He also helped the Blue Devils to a nine-rebound advantage.
"We could not stop the great player in Williams inside," Chaney said. "Our big guys are just not tough."
Greg Paulus hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points, and DeMarcus Nelson had 12 for Duke. The Blue Devils went 25-for-39 from the free-throw line; Temple 4-for-10.
Redick took awhile to get going, scoring his first basket on a layup midway through the first half, then didn't score again until he hit a 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the second half. Another driving layup with 11:07 left gave him seven points and tied the ACC mark.
"I never really set out to do it or concentrate on it," Redick said. "It just kind of came about with the season I was having."
Duke is 8-1 lifetime against Temple under Chaney, and hasn't lost to the Owls since 1996.
Source: AP
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