National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Duke 67, VCU 58
When: 7:00 PM ET, Friday, November 23, 2012
Where: Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort, Nassau
Officials: # Jamie Luckie, # Mike Roberts, # Doug Sirmons
Attendance: 3474

No. 5 Duke 67, VCU 58: Mason Plumlee finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Blue Devils overcame an uncharacteristic poor shooting effort from the 3-point line to down the Rams in a semifinal game at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Seth Curry had 15 points and seven rebounds for Duke (5-0), which shot 3-of-16 from beyond the arc but went 24-of-27 from the foul line. The Blue Devils will meet No. 2 Louisville in the tournament's title game on Saturday.

Treveon Graham and Juvonte Reddic had 16 points apiece for VCU (3-2), which will square off against Missouri in the third-place game.

The Blue Devils managed to hold a 29-28 advantage at the break as they leaned on Plumlee to bring the ball up the court against the vaunted full-court pressure defense of the Rams. The tactic resulted in just three first-half turnovers for Duke.

The Blue Devils used two layups and a dunk out of the break to spark a half-opening 19-8 run that gave them a 12-point advantage. VCU worked the deficit down to 54-50, but missed six consecutive free throws over a 9:51 stretch that sealed its fate.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Duke has won 22 straight regular-season tournament games, with its last loss coming against Marquette in the championship game of the 2006 CBE Classic. … VCU did not record its first assist until the 2:03 mark of the first half. The Rams finished with four. … The Blue Devils committed just eight turnovers, tying a season low.
Top Game Performances
 
VCU   Duke
Treveon Graham 16 Scoring Mason Plumlee 17
Darius Theus 2 Assists Quinn Cook 9
Juvonte Reddic 13 Rebounds Mason Plumlee 10
Rob Brandenberg 5 Free Throws Made Seth Curry 9
Briante Weber 3 Steals Tyler Thornton 2
Juvonte Reddic 1 Blocks Ryan Kelly 5
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
VCU 58 33.3 4-18 12-19 4 37 1 5 10
Duke 67 41.7 3-15 24-27 14 31 8 4 8