Drexel gives No. 1 Duke a run for its money

NEW YORK -- "We came here to win the tournament." Those were the words of Drexel coach Bruiser Flint after his team played top-ranked Duke at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. And his team came close to being able to win the preseason NIT tournament, giving the Blue Devils a major scare before eventually falling, 78-68, in the semifinals. Drexel tried to crash the party of three top-20 teams -- Duke, No. 11 Memphis and No. 16 UCLA -- who made up the rest of the tournament's final four. Duke was led by the sharpshooting senior guard J.J. Redick, who scored 31 points on 8-of-19 shooting, while admitting that he did feel the pressure to step up and carry the team. If it were not for the play of Redick and senior center Shelden Williams, who scored 20 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, the Dragons may well have advanced to Friday's championship game and really crashed the Garden party. In the first half, the Dragons came out firing. Behind an up-tempo transition game that surprised even Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, the Dragons shot 50 percent from both the field and behind the arc, and trailed only 41-40 at the break. The first 20 minutes also featured 20 lead changes and 10 ties as the teams went back in forth -- with no team leading by more than five. Although Krzyzewski said that he did not prepare his team for Drexel's offensive scheme, Flint believed that Duke was prepared enough. "They play everybody," he said. "They are used to seeing some teams that go fast." Junior guard Dominick Mejia led the way for the Dragons, scoring 25 points overall, with 14 coming in the first half. Fellow junior guard Bashir Mason also played a strong first half, with 13 points as he led the transition offense. "They hit us hard early," Krzyzewski said. However, Mason faded in the second, missing all four of his field goals and only scoring two points. And with that, Duke stretched its lead to nine with a 7-0 run that ended with a Josh McRoberts lay-up with 12:44 to play. After that, Drexel came as close as five only once, as the Blue Devils hit enough free throws and the Dragons were unable to hit the big shot to start a run -- going 1-11 on three-pointers in the second half. In addition to fatigue, the Dragons may have been undone because of their response to Williams picking up his fourth foul with 15:56 to play in the game. When the center returned with 9:42 remaining, Drexel went right after him, trying to get last year's National Defensive Player of the Year to foul out. Instead, Williams played his best basketball of the night, scoring all 10 of his second-half points, standing tough on defense, and not picking up that fifth foul. Meanwhile, Drexel was taken out of its up-tempo, three-point-shooting offense trying to get at Williams. "Shelden's play in the second half was critical," Krzyzewski said. "We gotta have Shelden on the floor," Redick added. Williams said that he learned from some losses last year where he had to sit on the bench with five fouls and watch his teammates go down without him. Tonight, though, he clearly learned from his past mistakes. "I just played straight up defense and didn't take any risks," he said. Duke was also helped in both halves by some key plays by reserves Martynas Pocius and Greg Paulus, both freshmen. Pocius hit three of four shots, and Paulus dished out five assists. Although the Dragons lost, they gained a measure of respect and recognition. "We beat a really good team tonight," Krzyzewski said. "They're the toughest team we've played this year, no question about it," Redick said. "They're the most confident team we've seen." Even Flint, while denying that there are any moral victories in college basketball, said that playing on the national stage is "great for us" and "big for our conference." Notes: -Duke sophomore guard DeMarcus Nelson, who Krzyzewski called his team's best athlete, left the game in the first half with what Krzyzewski reported to be a hairline fracture of his ankle. His status will be evaluated when a complete diagnosis is made. "Hopefully we can get him back sooner than later," Williams said. -Mejia was wearing jersey No. 40 at the game instead of his usual 23. Unconfirmed reports said that his jersey was left in Philadelphia. Duke will play No. 11 Memphis in the finals of the tournament Friday night, while Drexel takes on No. 18 UCLA in the consolation game earlier in the afternoon. For a preview of Saturday's Penn-Drexel game check out dailypennsylvanian.com on Friday.

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