THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100463
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
They're not done yet.
The Duke Blue Devils became the first No. 9 seed to advance to the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Thursday night with an 83-70 victory over eighth-seed North Carolina State. They'll play top-seeded Wake Forest at 2:30 p.m. today in the Greensboro Coliseum.
The victory kept alive the Blue Devils' hopes of returning to the NCAA tournament for a 12th consecutive season.
But after winning only two league games all season and finishing in the the basement, the Blue Devils (13-17) must overcome tradition if they are to win this tournament to reach postseason play.
A bottom-seed team has beaten a top-seed only once in 31 previous matchups.
``We have confidence we can do it,'' junior guard Chris Collins said. ``I believe there is still a little bit of mystique about Duke in the postseason.''
Duke, which went to seven Final Fours in the last decade, showed some of its old fire early against the Wolfpack, which had swept the regular-season meetings.
The Blue Devils hit their first five shots, including Jeff Capel's 3-pointer, for an 11-0 lead.
But it was a strong defense in the stretch that allowed Duke to hold on to the victory.
The Wolfpack (12-15) rallied in the second half for a 44-42 lead before the Blue Devils regained control.
``We have been through so much this season, and so many games we have been close to winning before letting the other team off the hook,'' Capel said.
``We were determined not to allow that to happen again. We wanted to get the momentum back again, and we had to do that on the defensive end.
``I think those last 10 minutes were some of the best defense we have played this season.''
It helped, too, that N.C. State's 6-foot-11 center Todd Fuller committed his fourth foul at 10:06 in the second half with the Blue Devils trying to hold a 53-51 lead.
N.C. State coach Les Robinson brought Fuller to the bench for a couple minutes. When he returned at 7:46, the Blue Devils had upped the lead to 67-53.
Center Cherokee Parks scored seven of Duke's nine points during the spurt.
``We knew Fuller was out and our perimeter players did a great job of getting the ball inside,'' said Parks, who finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
The Blue Devils went into a dive in January after coach Mike Krzyzewski left the team because of health problems.
They lost 14 of of their final 17 regular-season games to finish last in the ACC for the first time since 1977.
Krzyzewski has not rejoined the team for games, but he was back at practice this week in Durham to direct preparations for the tournament.
``Any time Coack K is around, it has to help,'' Capel said.
``He told us we needed to get back to doing the little things that make a difference - like diving for loose balls, playing tough defense and rebounding.''
Duke lost both of its regular-season games to Wake Forest, but by only one point in the last one.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
North Carolina State's Jeremy Hyatt, left, uses his forearm to fend
off Duke's Ricky Price during first-round action of the ACC
tournament Thursday night.
by CNB