Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 17, 1991 TAG: 9103170157
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
The Blue Devils made it work, closing the first half with a 13-1 surge and beating the Hawkeyes 85-70 Saturday in the NCAA Tournament to earn its sixth straight trip to a regional basketball semifinal.
On Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Pontiac, Mich., Duke (28-7) will play Connecticut, which eliminated Xavier of Ohio 66-50.
"Our goal was to break the press. Most teams see [Iowa center] Acie Earl back there and they don't want to attack because he's such a great shot blocker," said Duke's Thomas Hill, who sparked the decisive run with a dunk and three-point play. "Our plan was to attack him. A lot of times we had three-on-ones and two-on-ones.
"We played good defense in that run, were able to get ball up court and get a few easy baskets. That was good for us going into the locker room."
Duke led 15-5, then Iowa closed to 22-20 with 8:30 left in the first half. Four minutes later, dunks by Thomas Hill and Brian Davis got the Blue Devils rolling to their big halftime lead.
Grant Hill scored five points and Davis four during Duke's 13-1 surge in the final 4:25 of the first half. That turned a three-point lead into a 44-29 halftime edge for the Blue Devils, who continually broke Iowa's full-court press with long passes.
Iowa (21-11) got no closer than 12 points in the second half.
"We attacked the basket really hard when we broke pressure, and that's why we had a 15-point lead," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, trying to take the Blue Devils to a fourth-straight Final Four.
When Laettner would pass the ball over the press, Grant Hill, Thomas Hill and Davis were able to head full force to the basket.
"If we're really going to go out and win, we can't break the press and say `Oh, Acie's there and we're going to bring it back out,' " Krzyzewski said. "We got to say, `We're going to challenge their best player.'
"I thought Grant, Brian and Thomas especially were great in taking it to the basket in transition."
Iowa coach Tom Davis said it wasn't so much Duke's ability to break his team's press as it was the Blue Devils' own defense that caused 16 first-half turnovers.
"That was the story of us getting so far behind," Davis said. "We turned it over so frequently we couldn't get our offense going.
"They did a lot of things to disrupt us."
Laettner led the Blue Devils with 19 points. The second-seeded Blue Devils also got 17 points from Thomas Hill and 14 points and six steals from Grant Hill, the son of former NFL star Calvin Hill.
James Moses scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half for seventh-seeded Iowa, but the Hawkeyes couldn't overcome the 15-point halftime deficit. Earl added 15 points.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB