West Virginia beats Duke in second-round shocker

By Steve Ginsburg

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Duke's quest for a fourth national championship ended abruptly in the second round of the NCAA Tournament when West Virginia used an astonishing second-half rally to shock the Blue Devils 73-67 on Saturday.

Duke (28-6) held a 34-29 lead at the intermission but wilted in the second half when West Virginia outshot, outrebounded and outhustled the second-seeded team in the West Region.

"No matter how well or how hard you're playing, you've got to put the ball in the basket, and we didn't do that today," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, coach of the U.S. Olympic team.

In other games, Midwest Region third seed Wisconsin advanced to the round of 16 by routing Kansas State 72-55 behind 25 points from sophomore guard Trevon Hughes.

Xavier, seeded third in the West, bounced number six Purdue 85-78 behind 18 points each from C.J. Anderson and Drew Lavender.

Midwest Region top seed Kansas was set to play eighth-seeded Nevada-Las Vegas in Omaha, Neb., later on Saturday, while West Region number one faced ninth-seeded Texas A&M in Anaheim, Calif.

After hitting just 36 percent of their shots in the opening half, seventh-seeded West Virginia connected on 12 of 26 (46 percent) thereafter while outrebounding the Blue Devils 25-11.

Sophomore guard Joe Mazzulla was the catalyst for West Virginia, scoring 13 points while adding 11 rebounds and eight assists.

"Duke does as good a job of putting pressure on the ball as anybody," said Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins. "They try to take you out of what you want to run.

"Joe's our best guy at just straight lining, driving the ball to the goal."

HOT-SHOOTING

Duke held a 37-29 advantage with 17 minutes left in the game but the suddenly hot-shooting Mountaineers went on an 18-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 47-40 lead.

The Blue Devils were unable to respond, shooting only 36 percent in the second half. At one point, Duke missed 15 straight shots from three-point range.

Duke's leading scorer, DeMarcus Nelson, finished with six points, nine below his average, while hitting just two of 11 shots.

"We had open looks," said Krzyzewski. "We rely on three- point shooting and we're five for 22. I'm glad my guys took them and I didn't think they were bad.