Fab Freshmen Key To Duke’s Victory

If Duke had a weakness, it was supposed to be the inexperience of three key freshmen who are just beginning to get their feet wet in the NCAA Tournament.

But youth hardly fazed Elton Brand, Shane Battier and William Avery, who played more like seniors than freshmen Friday night as the Blue Devils beat Syracuse 80-67 to advance to the South Regional final.

The trio scored 45 points, taking up the slack for struggling leading scorers Roshown McLeod and Trajan Langdon, who were held to a total of 13 points on 4-of-22 shooting from the field.

“This time of year, there’s no freshmen and seniors,” said Brand, who had 20 points and 14 rebounds. “Anybody can step up.”

Sloppy in building and then losing a 12-point lead, Duke looked like a national title contender during its decisive second-half surge.

Brand, 10 for 14 from the field, led a 19-3 run the Blue Devils put together after missing 11 of their first 13 shots in the second half to give the heavy underdog Orangemen hope for an upset. Syracuse tied the game at 49 on Elvir Ovcina’s putback with just over 12 minutes to go, but didn’t score again against Duke’s tough man-to-man defense for 5 minutes.

By that time, Brand had taken over with two dunks and a jumper in the lane during the burst that also saw the Blue Devils get a 3-pointer from Avery and two baskets each from Battier and Chris Carrawell.

“We don’t consider those guys freshmen anymore,” said Duke senior Steve Wojciechowski. “They have gone through 35 games with us, and they’re just as experienced as some of the other guys now.”

The victory sends Duke (32-3) back into a regional final for the first time since 1994, when the Blue Devils made their seventh trip to the Final Four in nine years.