Singler’s double-double helps No. 4 Duke hold off Virginia 57-46 in ACC quarterfinals

Singler, No. 4 Duke hold off Virginia 57-46

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 4 Duke pulled away late to beat pesky Virginia 57-46 on Friday in an Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal.

Nolan Smith added 15 points for the top-seeded Blue Devils (27-5) and Jon Scheyer shook off a rough start to score 15 — including seven during the late 11-0 run that sent them into Saturday’s semifinal against the Miami-Virginia Tech winner.

Jeff Jones had 15 points and Mike Scott added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers (15-16). They got as close as 46-44 in the final 7 minutes, but went scoreless for nearly 6 minutes and were denied their first semifinal berth since 1995.

Smith started the decisive run by sticking back Singler’s miss with about 6 minutes left. Scheyer banked in a jumper and Singler added a putback to give the Blue Devils plenty of breathing room.

Duke, the defending tournament champion and its No. 1 seed for the 17th time, became the winningest team in the tournament’s history with their 85th victory. The Blue Devils entered tied with rival North Carolina, which will have to wait until next year to catch them after going one-and-done Thursday night.

For the fifth time in six games, they held a team to 55 or fewer points, and shot 46 percent in the second half to claim their 12th semifinal berth in 13 years and beat Virginia by double figures for the second time in 12 days.

But the Cavaliers wouldn’t allow this one to be anywhere near as one-sided as the 67-49 beating they received in Charlottesville.

Virginia rallied from an 11-point deficit midway through the half by reeling off nine straight points, a burst capped by Mustapha Farrahkan’s 3-pointer with 6:22 left that turned out to be the Cavaliers’ last field goal of the game. By the time they scored again, on Jones’ free throws with 24.3 seconds left, the outcome was already decided.

That’s in large part because Scheyer finally found his touch. The senior missed 12 of his first 14 shots before he got hot down the stretch. After knocking down a pretty hanging jumper, he converted a three-point play that gave Duke its largest lead, 57-44, with 2:32 left.

That hot streak never came for his counterpart. Sammy Zeglinski, who was coming off a season-best 21-point performance in a first-round win against Boston College, struggled mightily against the Blue Devils, missing all nine of his shots — including two layups in a late 3-second span that epitomized his day. He also turned it over five times.