Duke Wins 4th Maui Invitational Tournament

by Wrmjr

The Duke Blue Devils defeated Marquette 77-73 in a game that was as good as any fan could have hoped for. The game was close throughout. Duke held the lead most of the first half, and built a 9 point lead a couple times, but Marquette always came back. Duke first built a sizable lead late in the first half when they ripped of an 11-5 run, capped off by a beautiful pass from Greg Paulus to Kyle Singler for an easy layup. At the half, Duke led 43-36. Marquette started off fast in the second half, and when Ousmane Barro dunk made the game 45-43, Coach K called a 30-second timeout to calm his team down. Duke immediately built the lead back to 8 points, and the rest of the half had the same kind of ebb and flow. Marquette claimed the lead a couple times, but could never get more than 2 points ahead. Kyle Singler sunk 2 free throws at the 9 minute mark to tie and then Gerald Henderson sank 1 of 2 for the lead that Duke would never relinquish. It was tight right until the end, when Singler sank 2 more free throws with 13 seconds left to ice the game.

Singler led all scorers with 25 points and was named the tournament MVP. He made 3 of his 5 three-point attempts and sank all 8 of his free throw opportunities. Kyle Singler scored Duke's first and last points, and he was a go-to player throughout the game. He also added 7 rebounds to co-lead the team. DeMarcus Nelson also had 7 boards and added 16 points and 4 assists. Nelson's aggressive drives in the first half set the tone for Duke on offense, and though he got into some foul trouble, he was able to play smart and remain in the game.

For Marquette, the guard-trio of Dominic James, Jarel McNeil, and Wesley Matthews led the team as expected. When Duke played Marquette last year, they didn't have an answer for James. This year they held him to twelve points of 4 of 16 shooting. McNeil and Matthews added 11 and 12 points respectively, and forward Lazar Hayward led the team with 14 points.

For Duke, this is their 4th Maui Invitational Title in as many tries. No other team has won more than two. Marquette offered a tough challenge with guards that matched well against Duke and big men who could cause trouble with Duke's relatively small lineup. In the end, though, Duke played tough enough defense to hold Marquette to less than 46% shooting and to out-rebound them 37 to 29. Duke made some errors down the stretch--Paulus nearly had a disastrous turnover in crunch time--but they were able to hold on and close out the game. This will be a valuable game for both teams later this year when they will both face high-caliber competition a couple times a week.