ANCHORAGE, Nov. 25 -- Chris Collins scored a career-high 30 points and helped ignite a Duke rally in the final seven minutes Saturday night that brought the Blue Devils an 88-81 victory over ninth- ranked Iowa in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout. After struggling to a 13-18 record last season while coach Mike Krzyzewski recovered from back surgery, the Blue Devils stunned two ranked teams in as many nights.
Duke beat Indiana Friday evening to get a shot at Iowa and opened a 10-point lead with five minutes to play in the first half Saturday night. But the Hawkeyes cut their deficit at the half to 36-35 and thensurged in front by 11 with 6:50 to play. Jess Settles scored nine of his 16 points in the span of just 25 seconds to give Iowa a 69-58 advantage. But over the next 5:30, Iowa could manage only three points while Collins, Steve Wojciechowski and Ricky Price brought the Blue Devils storming from behind. Wojciechowski started the comeback with a field goal and Collins scored the next six points on a three-point shot and three free throws. A free throw by Greg Newton put Duke in front at 71-70 and after Iowa tied it, Wojciechowski gave the Blue Devils the lead for good with another three-pointer. Wojciechowski scored 10 points, all of them in the final seven minutes, while Price added 25. Iowa was Russ Millard and Chris Kingsbury with 16 points each.
