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Top 25 roundup: Luke Kennard, No. 5 Duke top Tennessee State 65-55 in Harry Giles’ debut

Tennessee State's A'Torey Everett, right, handles the ball as Duke's Amile Jefferson defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Monday, Dec. 19, 2016. (Ben McKeown / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Luke Kennard scored 24 points and No. 5 Duke beat Tennessee State 65-55 on Monday night in Durham, North Carolina.

Freshman forward Jayson Tatum added 14 points and Grayson Allen finished with 12 for the Blue Devils (11-1), who plodded through 30 mostly sluggish minutes before pulling away from a pesky Tigers team that threatened to spoil the college debut of touted Duke freshman Harry Giles.

Tennessee State led 36-34 with 15 minutes left. Duke countered with a 25-3 run highlighted by five 3-pointers – including two by Kennard on consecutive possessions after he was left completely unguarded – to take a 59-39 lead.

Darreon Reddick and Tahjere McCall scored 14 points apiece for the Tigers (8-3).

Amile Jefferson had a career-best 18 rebounds for Duke, which finally got Giles back from injury. One of the nation’s top recruits, he had no points and no rebounds in 4 first-half minutes.

(15) Purdue 82, Western Illinois 50: Caleb Swanigan had 21 points and 21 rebounds, Isaac Haas scored 18 and the Boilermakers (10-2) beat the Leathernecks (3-8) in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Swanigan went 7 for 16 from the field and 6 for 7 at the free throw line in his ninth double-double of the season. He had 26 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s 86-81 victory against No. 25 Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic.

Purdue also got 16 points from Vince Edwards in its fifth consecutive victory.

Mike Miklusak, an Indiana native who attended high school 85 miles from the Purdue campus, led Western Illinois with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Western Illinois shot 31 percent from the field.

(16) Indiana 103, Delaware State 56: OG Anunoby had 19 points and nine rebounds, and three of his teammates also reached double figures as the Hoosiers (9-2) routed the Hornets (3-10) in Bloomington, Indiana.

By avoiding a second straight loss, the Hoosiers extended their home winning streak to 25 games – tied for the fifth-longest in school history.

DeVaughn Mallory led Delaware State with 14 points. The Hornets have lost five of six.

Delaware State trailed throughout in its first trip to Assembly Hall.

Anunoby was 9 of 11 from the field and had four blocks. James Blackmon Jr. finished with 18 points, Robert Johnson had 16 and Thomas Bryant added 14 points and six rebounds for Indiana, which shot 66.7 percent from the field.

(21) Florida State 76, Samford 68: Terrence Mann scored 19 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes added 15 to lead the Seminoles (12-1) past the Bulldogs (7-4) in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Seminoles have won eight straight and are 12-1 for only the third time – matching the 1988-89 and 2008-09 squads.

FSU scored the first six points to start the second half, pushing the lead to double figures. Florida State led by 17 with 6:12 remaining after a 12-2 run.

Christen Cunningham led the Bulldogs with 16 points.

(23) USC 79, Cornell 67: Chimezie Metu scored 17 points and Jordan McLaughlin had 16 points and nine assists to help the Trojans (11-0) stay unbeaten with a victory over the Big Red (2-7) in Los Angeles.

After getting off to a slow start, the Trojans overcame an early 10-point deficit. They took the lead late in the first half and never trailed after halftime.

Southern California had a commanding height advantage and outrebounded Cornell 43-28.

Playing its seventh road game of the season, Cornell still gave USC a tougher time than expected. Stone Gettings scored 22 points for the Big Red, and Hatter had 20.

(25) Notre Dame 77, Colgate 62: V.J. Beachem scored 20 points to help the Fighting Irish (10-2) snap a two-game skid with a win over the Raiders (2-10) in South Bend, Indiana.

Bonzie Colson finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and Matt Farrell added 13 points and six assists for the Fighting Irish.

Will Ryman had 18 points for Colgate, which lost its sixth in a row – all in December.

In back-to-back losses to No. 1 Villanova and No. 15 Purdue, the Irish led by double digits in the first half of each game, but were outscored by an average of 16 points in the second half.