National Basketball Association
Duke 94, Maine 55
When: 5:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 3, 2016
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, North Carolina
Officials:
# Jerry Heater, # Brian O'Connell, # Raymond Styons
Attendance:
9314
By The Sports Xchange
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke freshman Jayson Tatum's long-awaited collegiate debut came with quite a bit of fanfare Saturday.
Teammates Luke Kennard and Amile Jefferson weren't about to be overshadowed.
Kennard nearly stole the show with 35 points as No. 5 Duke blasted Maine 94-55 in a game that marked the debuts of heralded freshmen Tatum and Marques Bolden at Cameron Indoor Stadium
The Blue Devils were without starting guards Grayson Allen and Frank Jackson, who were hit by recent injuries and sat out the game.
"I knew with a couple of our top scorers out, people would have to pick up the scoring," Kennard said. "We've got a ton of scorers and we have to continue to do that."
Tatum, who was in the starting lineup, had 10 points and eight rebounds. He left the game with a cramping right leg with 17:58 remaining and didn't return, but expressed no concerns about that afterward.
"I knew it was a cramp," Tatum said. "I hadn't worked this hard in a while. ... I was happy to be out there. The team was happy to have me out there. Everybody was just happy."
Bolden finished with seven points and five rebounds in a reserve role, checking in early in the game and logging 12 minutes.
"We got to see something new," Kennard said of the two freshmen. "It was good to see them out there."
Jefferson, a fifth-year senior, racked up a career-high 20 points for Duke (8-1), which has won six games in a row.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Allen (toe) and Jackson (foot) might miss only one game.
"The world doesn't stop for us to get healthy," Krzyzewski said.
Ilker Er scored 20 points, including 18 in the first 17 minutes, for Maine (2-6). He made 8 of 12 shots, including four 3-pointers, in the first half, but he didn't score after halftime. Wes Myers added 15 points for the Black Bears, who were stuck with a season-low point total.
Kennard, a sophomore guard, eclipsed his career high by reaching the 31-point mark with about 12 minutes remaining. He pumped in 20 first-half points, including a buzzer-beating 3 to give Duke a 46-32 advantage at halftime.
Kennard scored Duke's first seven points, and the Blue Devils held a 29-15 lead after Jefferson's tip-in with 7:43 remaining in the first half.
"Obviously their ability, their size, their talent, everything about them wore us down," Maine coach Bob Walsh said. "I was a little disappointed, I thought they took our spirit away in the second half."
The Black Bears were charged with only six turnovers, one of the encouraging stats in Walsh's opinion.
"I was really impressed with the way our guys fought," he said. "I thought we handled the atmosphere well. I thought we competed."
Jefferson has scored at least 15 points in seven consecutive games.
Allen's streak of appearing in 63 consecutive games ended. The last time he didn't play in a Duke game was when he was a freshman in January 2015 and wasn't used at Notre Dame. Before Duke's next game that season, guard Rasheed Sulaimon was dismissed from the team and the Blue Devils went on to win the national championship.
NOTES: Duke's homecourt winning streak against non-league opponents increased to 131. ... After using only six players in Tuesday night's victory against Michigan State, eight Duke players made it onto the court in the first half Saturday. ... Maine freshman forward Andrew Fleming, who was the top high school player in Maine last season, scored four points on 2-for-12 shooting. He was coming off a season-best 20 points against Central Connecticut State. ... Duke next plays Tuesday night against Florida in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. ... Maine, which was picked to finish last in the America East Conference, is home against Holy Cross on Wednesday night.
Top Game Performances
| Maine |
|
Duke |
|
Ilker Er 20 |
Scoring |
Luke Kennard 35 |
|
Ryan Bernstein 5 |
Assists |
Amile Jefferson 4 |
|
Andrew Fleming 6 |
Rebounds |
Amile Jefferson 9 |
|
Wesley Myers 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Luke Kennard 9 |
|
Andrew Fleming 2 |
Steals |
Javin DeLaurier 2 |
|
N/A |
Blocks |
Amile Jefferson 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Maine
|
55 |
30.4 |
9-30 |
4-6 |
12 |
19 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
| Duke
|
94 |
60.0 |
6-14 |
22-26 |
14 |
46 |
8 |
6 |
12 |
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