Duke beats China in exhibition

Duke Press Release

SHANGHAI, CHINA -- Ryan Kelly poured in 20 points, and all five Duke starters scored in double figures Thursday night as the Blue Devils pulled away from the Chinese Olympic Team 78-66, their second victory over the Chinese in as many nights.

"We did a good job playing through adversity," Curry said. A lot of stuff wasn't going our way, but guys kept fighting and we ended up winning. So we had a good two days. "

Seth Curry scored 15 points, Miles Plumlee had 14, and Andre Dawkins and Austin Rivers each added 12. Kelly made 9 of 11 shots from the field and added eight rebounds. Plumlee pulled down nine rebounds and had four steals.

"[Kelly and Plumlee] are playing with a lot of confidence right now, especially Ryan knocking down shots and Miles down there battling and playing against real good big men," Dawkins said. "[Plumlee] was ready to take on that challenge."

The Blue Devils used an 8-0 run spanning the end of the third and the start of the fourth quarters to break open a tight game.  Curry's floater just before the third-quarter buzzer began the run, and after back-to-back baskets from Kelly, Rivers followed his own miss to give the Blue Devils a 62-47 lead. Three-pointers from Kelly and Curry and baskets from Dawkins and Plumlee helped the Blue Devils maintain a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

"[Tonight's game] shows we've got that fight in us and we've just got to continue to grow and get better," Dawkins said.

Duke jumped out to an 8-0 lead, holding China scoreless for nearly four minutes to open the game. Although China closed to within two points on several occasions, Duke never gave up the lead.  The Blue Devils led 15-10 after the first quarter, 36-30 at halftime, and 56-47 at the end of the third quarter.  Duke shot 49% and tallied 16 steals for the game.

Duke opened the three-game series with a 77-64 win Wednesday night in Kunshan. The two teams will wrap up the series August 22 in Beijing before the Blue Devils travel west to Dubai. Duke's remaining two games of the foreign tour will be shown live on ESPNU and ESPN3.com