NEWS » practice with the success of the bench. With

NEW YORK -- Almost everybody in Madison Square Garden was impressed with the game Amile Jefferson had for No. 5 Duke.Nobody appreciated it more than Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.Jefferson set career highs with 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead Duke to an 84-74 victory over No. 21 Florida on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.Amile played one of the great games, Krzyzewski said. God bless him. He was fantastic.Luke Kennard scored 29 points and freshman Jayson Tatum added 22 for the Blue Devils (9-1), whose only loss was to Kansas on this same court in the Champions Classic in November.Krzyzewski also praised Kennard, who established his career high for points in the previous game against Maine.Lukes played fantastic, Krzyzewski said. When you get 29 points on 16 shots -- what hed have, 35 against Maine? Really efficient. Hes come through for us beautifully. Hes starting to put it together a little bit.Twice in the final 8 minutes the Gators (7-2) got within seven points but both times Kennard scored to hold off Florida, once with a 3-pointer and again with a long layup off a steal.Down the stretch in that second half, every time they made a play, we did a great job of coming back and taking the air out of the ball, using 20 seconds and then getting up a good shot, Jefferson said. Whether it was Luke, whether it was Jayson, whether it was G (Grayson Allen) penetrating and finding somebody, our guys did an amazing job of never splintering.The 6-foot-9 Jefferson, who also blocked four shots, was 11 for 14 from the field. Kennard went 11 of 16, including 5 for 7 from 3-point range.Kevaughn Allen led Florida with 21 points, and John Egbunu had nine points and 12 rebounds.They were a better team tonight, Florida coach Mike White said. I thought our guys were really jacked up for the opportunity. I thought Amile Jefferson was amazing, just absolutely amazing.Duke closed the first half with an 8-2 run -- Jefferson and Tatum had four points each -- for a 41-31 lead.Allen, Dukes preseason All-America, had an off night shooting (2 for 10, including 1 for 5 on 3s) but he had eight assists to go with his six points.I thought Jayson came out tonight and did an amazing job of just letting it all out, Jefferson said. Luke is the smoothest player in the country. So playing with these guys has been so much fun so far.BIG PICTUREFlorida: In the first eight games of the season, six different players led the Gators in scoring. ... White was 3 years old when Krzyzewski started coaching at Duke. ... Because of renovations at the OConnell Center on the Florida campus, the Gators wont play their first home game until Dec. 21 against Arkansas-Little Rock. All their games are either on the road or at neutral sites until then.Duke: Krzyzewski is 29-10 at Madison Square Garden as Duke coach. ... The Blue Devils lead the all-time series with Florida 13-4. ... Jefferson was coming off a career-high 20 points against Maine. He had 14 rebounds four times. ... Duke had five double-figure scorers in seven of its nine games coming in. The Blue Devils had three against Florida, all over 20 points.I think were really close if were not there, Kennard said. I think we really, really shared the ball well tonight on the offensive end because we have a lot of scorers. We have a lot of playmakers and a lot of scorers and the way we can share the ball, its pretty special. Not a lot of teams have that many scorers on a team and when we share the ball and get open shots, we can be really dangerous on the offensive end.JIMMY VThroughout both games, videos were shown during timeouts featuring cancer survivors or those whose life has been affected by the disease. The Garden also showed Jim Valvanos speech at the ESPYs when he announced the formation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The crowd of 15,294 broke into a prolonged round of applause when it ended with Valvanos now famous Dont give up. Dont ever give up.I miss him, Krzyzewski said of Valvano. Im glad he had the vision to get this thing started.GOOD DBoth teams played solid man-to-man defense and it was such a halfcourt game that there were only 18 fast-break points, 10 for Florida.FAMILY TIESKevin White, the athletic director at Duke, is the father of Florida coach Mike White.UP NEXTFlorida: The Gators head for a real rivalry game, Sunday at Florida State.Duke: On Saturday the Blue Devils travel to Las Vegas to meet UNLV. Cheap NHL Jerseys From China .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner. Cheap NHL Jerseys Online . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. http://www.jerseyscheapnhl.com/ . -- The goal posts lying flat on the field, Arizonas fans lingered on the field, congregating around the locker room entrance nearly 30 minutes after rushing out of the stands. Cheap New Jersey Devils Jerseys . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. NHL Jerseys Cheap . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Shannon Hale hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range and finished with 19 points and Alabama beat Ball State 77-59 on Friday night.I thought his body language was good, Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. ...What more can I say. That Shannon Hale is the one I consistently want to see.After coming off the bench to score 13 in the first half, Hale was inserted into the starting lineup for the second in place Bola Olaniyan. Reserves ArMond Davis and Avery Johnson Jr. combined to score 30 for the Crimson Tide (2-1), with 17 and 13 points, respectively, to help Alabamas bench to match the Cardinals in scoring.Davis made 5-of-7 3-pointers and Johnson Jr. made 3-of-3 while adding six assists and five rebounds.Johnson Jr. said his teammates were instrumental in his success, but he also said breaking from routine and taking a nap before the pre-game meal helped to settle his nerves.I just kind of told myself yesterday, Im not going to wait until like my fifth or my last year to turn it up, Johnson Jr. said. So I thought this was going to be a good opportunity so once I got there I did some different things in my pregame.It was close for much of the first half and scoreless for the first 4-plus minutes. Hales dunk with 15:20 left in the half was the first made field goal and gave Alabama a 4-0 lead. Alabamas offense picked up from there until it cooled off late in the second half when the team failed to make a shot from the fieldd for nearly 7 1/2 minutes.ddddddddddddDespite those struggles, the Cardinals (1-2) were unable to take advantage. Tayler Persons led Ball State with 15 points. Franko House, who came in averaging 22 points and 10 rebounds, finished with 10 points and seven boards.Johnson credited Wednesdays practice with the success of the bench. With three starters missing that day others had to step up.Shannon and Avery and ArMond they practically are on the same team every practice so they are getting in a good rhythm of knowing each others strengths and weaknesses, Johnson said.BIG PICTUREAlabama: The Crimson Tide bounced back from Tuesdays 77-72 loss to Dayton to avoid falling below .500.Ball State: The Cardinals held their first two opponents to exactly 64 points in regulation, but the team didnt have an answer for Alabamas offense once it got going.NEXT UPAlabama: The Crimson Tide will leave the confines of Coleman Coliseum for the first time this season to face Valparaiso in Las Vegas, Nevada.Ball State: The Cardinals will return home to face Coppin State for the chance to claim the teams first home victory of the season on Monday.STAT OF THE NIGHT: Ball State committed 21 turnovers -- 100 more than the Tide. Alabama finished the game with 14 steals and outscored the Cardinals 26-6 on points off turnovers. ' ' '