Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Jabari Parker had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 6 Duke beat UNC Asheville 91-55 on Monday night in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Rodney Hood had 15 of his 18 points in the first half for the Blue Devils (3-1), who never trailed and shot 57 percent.
Duke held a 42-28 rebounding advantage, built a 20-point first-half lead and coasted to its 104th straight nonconference win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Sam Hughes scored 16 points for the Bulldogs (1-3). They shot 33 percent and never got closer than 18 points in the second half.
UNC Asheville was beaten soundly by its second top-10 opponent in 11 days after being routed 89-57 by then-No. 1 Kentucky.
Andre Dawkins had 13 points and Quinn Cook and freshman Semi Ojeleye added 10 apiece to help Duke improve to 23-2 in the preseason NIT.
The Blue Devils have won the tournament four times and two of those titles came during their most recent national championship seasons in 2000-01 and 2009-10.
And once again, Hood and Parker did most of the heavy lifting for Duke's offense. In all four games, the Blue Devils have been led in scoring by either Hood or Parker.
Hood was coming off a career-high 28-point performance last time out against Florida Atlantic. Also in that game, Parker became the first Duke freshman under coach Mike Krzyzewski with at least 20 points in each of the first three games of his career.
Parker wasted little time making it four in a row, scoring 14 in the first half while finishing 8 of 13 from the field.
And Hood turned in several highlight-reel plays during his 6-for-8 night: His personal 7-0 run gave Duke its first 20-point lead.
Hood's jumper after a pretty behind-the-back dribble came two possessions before a posterizing dunk, and a 3-pointer from the corner made it 44-24 with just under 4 minutes before halftime.
Perhaps lost in the shuffle, high-energy forward Amile Jefferson did the dirty work that led to the run by Hood that put this one out of reach.
On three consecutive defensive series, Jefferson got a hand in the face of 7-footer Jaleel Roberts during a jumper, grabbed a key rebound and forced the steal from Hughes that set up Hood's 3.
Just as in the Blue Devils' previous two home games, they built such a big early lead that the drama-free second half afforded plenty of chances to show off. And no sequence was prettier than Parker's reverse dunk of Cook's open-court alley-oop feed with 12 1/2 minutes left.
David Robertson added 12 points for UNC Asheville, which made just its second visit to Cameron and first since 2008. The Bulldogs once again were without forward Will Weeks, who averages 13 points but missed his second straight game with a knee injury.
___
Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joedyap
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
![modal](https://img.ksl.com/slc/2548/254870/25487033.jpg)