Scheyer, Smith lead No. 7 Duke past Long Beach State, 84-63

No. 7 Duke tops Long Beach State 84-63

DURHAM, N.C. — Jon Scheyer scored 22 points, Nolan Smith added 19 and No. 7 Duke beat Long Beach State 84-63 on Tuesday night.

Kyle Singler added 14 points for the Blue Devils (10-1), who led by 26 points, shot 47.1 percent, blocked a season-high 10 shots and were 15 of 26 from 3-point range.

Larry Anderson scored 14 points for Long Beach State (6-7), which couldn’t get closer than 13 points in the second half and lost its third straight. The 49ers have been beaten by four Top Ten opponents so far.

Senior big men Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek had 10 points apiece for Duke, which went up by double figures to stay before the 49ers made their third field goal and went on to win its fourth straight. The Blue Devils showed little rust from the nine-day break that followed their 35-point rout of Gonzaga and extended a few streaks at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke — which had only one previous home game decided by fewer than 25 points — has won 75 straight nonconference games at Cameron, 35 in a row here against unranked teams and 48 straight at home in December.

The backcourt of Scheyer and Smith, who combined for 44 points in the Gonzaga rout, did it again this time. They were a combined 15 of 32 from the field, had 10 3s between them and helped the Blue Devils pick up a few strength-of-schedule points against a tested Long Beach State team.

One unofficial online replication of the RPI formula determined that the 49ers played the nation’s toughest schedule, having lost to No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 6 West Virginia by an average of 23 points and failing to keep it closer than 13 against any of them.

Long Beach State was coming off an 86-73 loss to Kentucky in which the 49ers were tied at halftime, but this time, the Blue Devils weren’t about to let them hang around nearly that long.

Duke used a 27-7 run to build a 27-9 lead, with the burst highlighted by two 3s from Scheyer and an impressive display of athleticism from Smith — who blocked Casper Ware’s 3-pointer before hustling downcourt to take a pretty feed from Singler and hitting a layup to push the Blue Devils’ lead into double figures to stay.

That was just one in a bonanza of blocks for Duke. With 5 minutes before the break, Long Beach State had more shots blocked (seven) than made (five) — and that helps explain why the 49ers managed just two field goals during a span of roughly 11 minutes.

Conversely, there were times when the Blue Devils seemingly couldn’t miss from long range.

Six consecutive Duke field goals late in the first half were 3s, including four in a 3½-minute span and two 26 seconds apart by freshman Andre Dawkins that stretched the lead to 42-16 with just under 4 minutes left.