Singler shines again, leads No. 9 Duke past Coastal Carolina, 74-49

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No. 9 Duke routs Coastal Carolina, 74-49

DURHAM, N.C. — Kyle Singler had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 9 Duke beat Coastal Carolina 74-49 on Monday night in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Freshman Andre Dawkins had 13 points and Jon Scheyer and Miles Plumlee added 10 apiece for the Blue Devils (2-0).

They held the Chanticleers to three field goals during a 14-minute stretch of the first half, put themselves up by 25 points with a 24-11 spurt midway through the second and cruised from there to a second-round matchup with the Elon-Charlotte winner Tuesday night.

Mario Edwards scored 12 to lead the Chanticleers (1-1). Their coach, Cliff Ellis, beat Duke three times from 1987-90 during his decade coaching at Clemson. But that didn’t translate onto the court for a Coastal Carolina team seeking its first win against an Atlantic Coast Conference team since 1987.

But on a night when the Blue Devils once again were short-handed due to an injury and a suspension, Singler was there to keep them rolling. The ACC’s preseason player of the year followed his 20-point performance in the opening win against North Carolina-Greensboro with even bigger numbers, scoring 15 in the first half and finishing 8 of 14 in 36 minutes.

Dawkins, a freshman with a quick trigger from long range, hit two 3-pointers during the overwhelming second-half spurt. The first made it 50-28 with 11 minutes left and pushed Duke’s lead into the 20s.

The Blue Devils extended their NCAA-record nonconference winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium to 70, claimed their 30th straight win at home against an unranked team and improved to 19-2 in the preseason NIT, a tournament they have won three times.

Coastal Carolina, which was playing its first game against a top-10 team since a 43-point loss to No. 7 Florida in 2002, fell to 1-28 against the ACC and lost its sixth straight road game. The Chanticleers were without three first-year players — including South Carolina transfer Chad Gray — who were serving one-game suspensions for violating undisclosed team rules.

Duke had just eight players in its rotation because guard Nolan Smith sat out the second of his two-game suspension for playing in an unsanctioned summer league and 6-foot-10 freshman forward Mason Plumlee remained out with a broken left wrist. Smith is expected back for the second-round matchup.

Without them, the Blue Devils pushed their lead into double figures to stay by scoring 10 straight points midway through the first half and forcing the Chanticleers into some miserable shooting.

Coastal Carolina reeled off six quick points in the first 2 minutes — but managed just six more during the following 14, when they were held to 3-of-22 shooting while allowing Duke to take a 26-12 lead. The Chanticleers attempted their only two free throws of the half at the 2:20 mark.