The smile on Sean Dockery’s face said it all as he walked off the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday night.
Mr. Big Shot was at it again as Dockery buried a three-pointer and got fouled on the shot with 4:50 left on the clock to break a 65-65 tie, which gave Duke a lead it would not lose as it came away with an 81-68 victory over N.C. State.
“I don’t know who shot it, I just saw the ball going in afterward and whoever shot it made,” Cameron Bennerman said. “It was a big shot, and they made big shots.”
Right before Dockery’s heroics started, Gavin Grant was sent to the free throw line for two shots after a controversial blocking call went against Dockery for a chance to put State (14-3, 3-2 ACC) in the lead. When Grant missed the second free throw, he hustled in the lane, but lost control of the ball to Shelden Williams, which led to Dockery getting an open look in the corner.
“He has been making big plays for us since DeMarcus’ injury,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m proud of Sean, too, because Monday we didn’t know if Sean was going to be able to play. He played hurt tonight, though, and you wouldn’t know it. I want to give a basketball purple heart to him.”
Dockery also hustled into the lane to get his own rebound after his free throw attempt went awry, but unlike Grant, did not surrender control as he kicked it out to senior Lee Melchionni, who knocked down a three of his own.
The pair of threes gave Duke (17-0, 5-0) a 71-65 lead, which sent the Cameron Crazies into a frenzy.
The game started off poorly for State as it opened with three consecutive turnovers before even getting a shot on the basket. Once State got settled though, Cedric Simmons took control of the paint — scoring 28 points in the game and making six blocks in the first half alone.
“Cedric just continues to get better every night out, and Duke’s game plan defensively made it very important to go inside to him,” coach Herb Sendek said. “Our guys did a good job with doing that and he responded with another really good game for us.”
Williams responded with 21 points, five steals, and four blocks, which gave him the Duke record for most blocked shots in a career.
“I thought that Shelden had a fabulous game,” Krzyzewski said. “He was a force inside.”
Ilian Evtimov closed the first half with a layup to put State up by a point, which was his only basket on the night to go along with his four assists and four turnovers.
The second half opened much the same way the first half closed as Cedric Simmons scored 10 of State’s first 12 points to keep the Wolfpack even with Duke as he took advantage of Williams playing softer defense to avoid picking up his third foul.
“I came out aggressive. I was amped up to play, and I ended up with a big game,” Simmons said.
Williams, though, did pick up his third foul with 13:29 remaining in the contest, and it forced him to watch from the bench as State went on an 8-0 run to take a 58-56 lead.
As Williams re-entered the contest, the No. 1 Blue Devils reasserted control with Dockery and Melchionni’s consecutive threes, while the crowd continued to chant “Our home court!” to remind State of the difficulty of winning in Cameron.
State finished the last 6:12 of the contest without scoring a field goal and committing five turnovers to cement the end result.
“What we did in the second half was to not run as many plays. I told them to just run motion offense, play basketball, have some fun,” Krzyzewski said.
“They didn’t have good looks on their faces. They had a lot of pressure on them, so that’s why I was telling them [to] just have fun and play. I told them the outcome of this game will be determined on how much fun we have in the second half, and we did.”
Senior leadership proved to be a huge factor in the game as Duke’s seniors accounted for 71 of their 81 points scored on the night, while the seniors for State scored just 16. Tony Bethel, Engin Atsur and Evtimov had just two points apiece.
Player of the Year candidate J.J. Redick had another stellar game for the Blue Devils as well, scoring 28 points with six assists and shooting 10-10 from the free throw line.
“There’s just no question that J.J. is just a great player. He’s a great, great player,” Krzyzewski said.
“There’s really not an aspect of the game that he’s weak at now. He can play defense, obviously he’s one of the best competitors to ever play here. They were trapping him, and he had the presence of mind to break it and get a couple of looks. When your guy can do that, it’s a heck of a thing.”
State was limited to just two three-point baskets for the game. Prior to the game, the Pack had been averaging over nine per game and had been held to under three three-pointers in a game only once on the season. State did, however, outscore Duke’s bench 22-4 while only seven players saw the floor.
“That’s the best team we’ve played so far,” Krzyzewski said. “They know what they’re doing, and they do it well. And for us to be fortunate enough to win this game, it’s a big win for us.”
Sendek was also pleased with the effort and does not want the outcome of the game to affect the rest of the season.
“Our team played very good basketball. Our guys have nothing to be ashamed of. Our guys competed really hard and played really well. And we didn’t win the game, and I want them to feel good about themselves,” he said. “Saturday we have another big game, so the train’s moving on.”