No. 13 Duke Wins Fourth Title in Hawaii

The Lahaina Civic Center may not be Cameron Indoor Stadium, but for Duke, it has become a comfortable second home. A ``Mini-Cameron'', coach Mike Krzyzewski called it. <br/><br/>Kyle Singler scored

Thursday, November 22nd 2007, 9:43 am

By: News On 6

The Lahaina Civic Center may not be Cameron Indoor Stadium, but for Duke, it has become a comfortable second home. A ``Mini-Cameron'', coach Mike Krzyzewski called it.

Kyle Singler scored 25 points, including the clinching free throws with 13 seconds to play, and fought off a leg injury to lead the 13th-ranked Blue Devils to a 77-73 victory over No. 11 Marquette on Wednesday night and claim their fourth EA Sports Maui Invitational championship.

Duke (5-0) won the title here in 1992, 1997 and 2001. The Blue Devils' first 11 wins came by an average of 18.9 points and nine were by at least 10 points. This one went down to the final seconds.

No other school has won more than two championships in the 24 years of this event.

``We look at it as a mini-Cameron, it's nice and intimate,'' Krzyzewski said. ``We love coming here and have been a little bit lucky and our guys have played really tough. We'll come back, I know that.''

In other Top 25 games it was, No. 4 Kansas 87, Northern Arizona 46; No. 5 Georgetown 57, Ball State 48; No. 6 Louisville 68, UNLV 48; No. 16 Texas A&M 77, Washington 63; Ohio State 79, No. 21 Syracuse 65; No. 22 Butler 79, Michigan 65; and No. 24 Clemson 74, Presbyterian 57.

Singler, a freshman forward, was 7-for-11 from the field and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. He joined Bobby Hurley, current Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski and Mike Dunleavy as Blue Devils who have won the MVP at the Maui Invitational.

``I felt honored to win the MVP but the main goal coming to Maui was to win the championship and that's what we accomplished,'' he said. ``I just wanted to do what I had to do and it meant I got the MVP.''

Singler was stretched out on the floor near the Duke bench when he was out with the injury. He jumped up and sprinted by the bench to get back in the game and took a bottle of Gatorade with him to the scorer's table to report in.

``I got bumped in the knee and it was more of a knot than a cramp in the leg but I have two,'' Singler said.

DeMarcus Nelson added 16 points for the Blue Devils, whose fans were chanting ``our house'' in the final minute and as the awards were being presented.

Lazar Hayward had 14 points for the Golden Eagles (4-1), who were making their first appearance in the tournament.

``Even though we didn't get what our goal was, it was a fantastic experience for our team,'' Marquette coach Tom Crean said. ``Both teams brought out the toughness in each other. Tonight, their strengths were a little too good for us: their driving, they got too many free throws and the rebounding. We will come out of here with a much broader and greater perspective of what we are as a basketball team.''

No. 4 Kansas 87, Northern Arizona 46

At Lawrence, Kan., Darrell Arthur had 17 points and the Jayhawks got their 600th win in the 52-year history of Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas poured it on from the start, scoring the first 12 points and building it to a 29-4 lead with 7 1/2 minutes left. The Jayhawks (4-0) shot 61 percent and held Northern Arizona without a double-figures scorer.

Zarko Comagic, Cameron Jones and Josh Wilson led Northern Arizona (3-2) with eight points each.

No. 5 Georgetown 57, Ball State 48

At Muncie, Ind., Roy Hibbert scored 16 points and had seven rebounds, and Georgetown made seven 3-pointers in a win over outmanned Ball State.

The Cardinals (0-3) were led by Peyton Stovall with 16 points.

Georgetown (3-0) relied on its superior size, depth and talent, and used a 22-7 run over an eight-minute stretch in the first half to build a 31-18 halftime lead. DaJuan Summers and Jessie Sapp each scored 11 points for Georgetown.

No. 6 Louisville 68, UNLV 48

At Las Vegas, Earl Clark had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Jerry Smith added 14 points to lead Louisville past UNLV.

Louisville (3-0) led by double digits in the first half, but UNLV (3-1) made four straight 3-pointers to take a 35-33 lead with 14:36 left.

Following a time out, Louisville scored the next nine points, including 3-pointers from Terrence Williams and Edgar Sosa, and never trailed again.

No. 16 Texas A&M 77, Washington 63

At New York, Donald Sloan scored 18 points and Texas A&M held Washington without a field goal for a key 5-minute stretch in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals.

Joseph Jones added 17 points for the Aggies (5-0), who will play Ohio State on Friday night in the championship game at Madison Square Garden.

Jon Brockman had 21 points and 15 rebounds to lead Washington (3-1).

Ohio State 79, No. 21 Syracuse 65

At New York, Freshman Kosta Koufos scored a career-high 24 points to help Ohio State beat Syracuse to advance to the NIT Season Tip-Off final.

Koufos, a 7-foot freshman, has gotten better every game. He had 18 in his debut against Wisconsin-Green Bay and then scored 19 against Columbia to help Ohio State advance to New York.

Donte Greene scored 21 and Eric Devendorf added 15 for the Orange (3-1).

No. 22 Butler 79, Michigan 65

At Anchorage, Alaska, Peter Campbell scored 18 points, all on 3-pointers, and Butler set a tournament record by hitting 17 3-pointers in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout.

The Bulldogs (4-0) hit 17-of-32 from beyond the arc. Michigan (2-2) matched Butler's torrid 3-point shooting early but couldn't keep pace in the second half.

DeShawn Sims led Michigan with 14 points. Ron Coleman and Manny Harris each had 12.

No. 24 Clemson 74, Presbyterian 57

At Clemson, S.C., K.C. Rivers scored 18 points, Cliff Hammonds added 14 and Clemson (4-0) improved to 17-0 in the last three Novembers with a victory over Presbyterian.

Al'Lonzo Coleman had 18 points, while Pat Kiscaden finished with 16 for Presbyterian (0-6).