Duke Rolls Past Oklahoma St. 79-73

March 15, 1998 / 3:51 PM EST / CBS/AP

Duke got booed again, won again and headed back to the NCAA tournament's round of 16 again. All things considered, it wasn't such a bad weekend at Rupp Arena.

Roshown McLeod scored 22 points and had 10 rebounds Sunday as the top-seeded Blue Devils ignored a hostile crowd and hit the big shots down the stretch to beat Oklahoma State 79-73 in the second round of the South Regional.

The Blue Devils (31-3) are back in the round of 16 for the first time since 1994, when they completed a run of eight such appearances in nine years. They'll play either Syracuse or New Mexico on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

When they look back on their weekend, the Blue Devils will remember the crowds' taunts and a tough final game against eight-seeded Oklahoma State (22-7), which stayed close but wore down at the end.

"It was pretty good," coach Mike Krzyzewski said, summing up his stay in Lexington. "I'm not sure I'll be back soon, unless the (NCAA tournament) committee wants me to come back."

"We expected to be booed, and that was not a big thing."

Duke's depth was the deciding thing. The Blue Devils led the entire second half, pushing its advantage to 11 points, and were much fresher in the closing minutes when the Cowboys got within a basket.

Joe Adkins, who led the Cowboys with 20 points, hit a pair of free throws that cut it to 69-66 with 3:26 left. But Adrian Peterson, the Cowboys' leading scorer, missed a 3-pointer and a driving layup on consecutive possessions and his last four shots overall as the comeback came up short.

Peterson finished with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

"Pete didn't have a good shooting afternoon," coach Eddie Sutton said. "Late in the game, we ran some special plays for him. That's what happens to you many times when you get tired. You'll miss easy shots."

"Maybe it (tiredness) caused me to miss some shots, but I'm not going to make excuses," Peterson said.

Duke hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final 40 seconds to clinch Krzyzewski's 42nd tournament win, matching Louisville's Denny Crum for third on the all-time list.

Krzyzewski angered local basketball fans by suggesting last week that Duke deserved to play somewhere else. The Blue Devils were booed loudly during their first practice and both games.

Point guard Steve Wojciechowski also got booed every time he touched the ball after he and Oklahoma State point guard Doug Gottlieb got tangled up and shoved each other while going for a loose ball midway through the first half.

As it turned out, Sutton's game plan was more of a problem than the crowd. The Cowboys doubled up Duke's inside players in their man-to-man defense and kept the Blue Devils from getting many points in transition.

Sutton also slowed down his ofense one of the best in his eight seasons at Oklahoma State and the Blue Devils couldn't shake loose.

"A lot of people didn't think we could play with Duke and we certainly did," Sutton said.

"It didn't seem like things came easy today," Krzyzewski said.

McLeod was the only Duke player who got into a flow. He scored eight of Duke's first 10 points, most of them on pullup jumpers and floating shots. McLeod had 14 in the first half, helping Duke build a 45-38 lead.

"That was one of my best games because it was one of our most important games of the season," McLeod said.

"He's been unbelievable for us," guard Trajan Langdon said. "He was huge for us, not just getting the points but his rebounds, too. He carried us today."

The Blue Devils never trailed after a six-point swing on a controversial call in the first half. William Avery hit a 3-pointer, was fouled and missed the free throw, but the ball was batted out to Langdon, who hit another 3.

That sparked a 10-0 spurt that put Duke ahead 36-28 with 5:06 left in the half, and the Blue Devils led by at least three points the rest of the game.

Langdon, the only Blue Devil who failed to score in a first-round win over Radford, finished with 17 points but was only 5-of-13 from the field, extending his shooting slump to five games.

One of Oklahoma State's best chances ended with a disputed call midway through the second half. With Duke up 57-52, Peterson hit a 3-pointer that was negated by a foul on Brett Robisch, who set a screen that got him open. Sutton screamed in protest and drew a technical, and Duke rebuilt the lead to nine points.

The Cowboys thought Peterson got the shot off before the foul, so it should have counted.

"That was a big play," Robisch said. "If we get that basket, it makes a difference. You can't fault the call. Maybe it was the right call, maybe it wasn't."

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