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Darrius Sellers goes up for a shot in the first half of Friday night's game at Duke. (UNCG staff photo)
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DURHAM, N.C. - Ben Stywall scored all 19 of his points in the second half, but it wasn't enough to offset four Blue Devils in double figures as No. 9 Duke defeated UNC Greensboro, 96-62, in men's basketball action Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Stywall made 7-of-11 from the field in the second half after going 0-for-5 in the first 20 minutes. The senior from Charlotte, N.C. also added eight rebounds.
Duke (1-0) got 20 points from Kyle Singler and 18 points and four assists from Jon Scheyer. Lance Thomas added 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Spartans (0-1) got solid play from three freshmen making their collegiate debut in one of the toughest venues in the nation. Kyle Randall had nine points and four assists, while Brian Cole added eight points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor. Korey Van Dussen also added a solid 20 minutes off the bench, scoring two points.
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Ben Stywall drives in for two of his 19 points in Friday night's game against No. 9 Duke. (AP Photo)
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"They're big and that caused some problems for us -- with their size," said UNCG coach Mike Dement. "We battled in there and that was good. When we missed and tried to put it back, we've got to deal with their size. But they were able to put theirs back against our smaller guys. I liked the way we battled though. Our guards did some good things and Ben Stywall came along in the second half, being very aggressive, and we need that from him for a full 40 minutes."
The Spartans scored the first two points of the game on a Pete Brown tip dunk, before the Blue Devils scored eight straight. That began a 17-4 run for the Blue Devils that opened up the first double-digit lead of the night for either squad, 17-6, with 14 minutes left in the half.
After trailing 23-8, the Spartans began to chip away. A trey by Mikko Koivisto got things started, extending his streak to 12 consecutive games with a three-pointer. A bucket by Brown made it 32-20 with seven minutes left in the opening half.
The Blue Devils ran off seven straight, though, to regain control. Duke shot 60 percent from the floor for the opening half to take a 48-27 lead into the locker room.
The Spartans chipped it down under 20 a couple of times in the second half. Duke gradually pulled away late, though. With the Spartans hanging around at 64-45 with 11:51 to play, Duke scored 13 of the next 18 points, beginning with a three-pointer by Scheyer, to extend the lead to 77-50 with 7:50 to play.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday when they visit Virginia Tech for a 7 p.m. tip.
AGATE
DUKE 96, UNCG 62
UNCG (0-1)
Ben Stywall 7-16 5-6 19; Kyle Randall 3-7 2-4 9; Brian Cole 4-8 0-0 8; Mikko Koivisto 2-7 2-2 8; Pete Brown 3-5 0-1 6; Kendall Toney 2-4 0-2 5; Darrius Sellers 2-3 0-0 4; Korey Van Dussen 1-3 0-1 2; Brandon Evans 0-6 1-2 1; Montel Smith 0-0 0-0 0; Deangelo Jackson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 10-18 62.
DUKE (1-0)
Kyle Singler 9-15 0-0 20; Jon Scheyer 5-10 6-7 18; Brian Zoubek 6-7 2-3 14; Lance Thomas 4-6 4-4 12; Miles Plumlee 4-10 2-4 10; Ryan Kelly 3-5 1-2 8; Andre Dawkins 3-6 0-0 8; Olek Czyz 3-3 0-0 6; Steve Johnson 0-0 0-0 0; Casey Peters 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-62 15-20 96.
Halftime: Duke 48-27. 3-point goals--UNCG 4-12 (Mikko Koivisto 2-7; Kendall Toney 1-2; Kyle Randall 1-1; Brandon Evans 0-2), Duke 7-18 (Jon Scheyer 2-7; Andre Dawkins 2-4; Kyle Singler 2-5; Ryan Kelly 1-2). Fouled out--UNCG-None, Duke-None. Rebounds--UNCG 26 (Ben Stywall 8), Duke 44 (Miles Plumlee 9). Assists--UNCG 12 (Kyle Randall 4), Duke 16 (Jon Scheyer 4). Total fouls--UNCG 20, Duke 18. Technical fouls--UNCG-None, Duke-None. Att.-9314
FREE THROWS: The Spartans opened the season on the road for the fifth consecutive year and the 16th time in their 19 seasons as a Division I program... It was the eighth time in school history that the Spartans have faced a Top 10-ranked team. The last time was December 31, 2005 when UNCG faced top-ranked Duke in the Greensboro Coliseum in front of more than 23,000 fans... UNCG is now 0-23 all-time against Top 25 opponents... The two head coaches visited on Friday for about 30 minutes prior to UNCG hitting the floor for practice at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Dement's first collegiate coaching job was at Duke as a graduate assistant in 1982... the Spartans brought back their gold uniforms on Friday night after a one-year hiatus. They last wore gold in the 2008 SoCon Tournament... Mike Dement is now 12-11 all-time as a head coach in season-openers. UNCG as a program is 15-28 all-time in openers, including 5-14 since moving to Division I.
- UNCG -
