North Carolina Tar Heels at Duke Blue Devils

Jabari Parker scores career-high 30, adds 11 boards as No. 4 Duke rolls

The freshman phenom scored a season-high 30 points and added 11 rebounds in the fourth-ranked Blue Devils' 93-81 win over No. 14 North Carolina on Saturday night.

In leading Duke in both scoring and rebounding all season, he hasn't looked like a first-year player very often.

And he doesn't want to be called one, either.

"No more freshman," he said. "I don't like getting in that category anymore because my team needs me more than just an 18-year-old. They need somebody with experience through the whole game. ... It's time to grow up."

Rodney Hood added 24 points to help Duke (24-7, 13-5) end the Tar Heels' 12-game winning streak and clinch the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

They shot nearly 60 percent but couldn't overcome their disadvantage on the glass and are locked into the No. 4 seed in the league tournament.

Leslie McDonald added 12 points for North Carolina, which was denied its fourth win over a top-five team, but briefly made things tense in the final minutes when Paige converted a four-point play to make it 81-73 with 2:50 left.

Quinn Cook hit two free throws, Amile Jefferson added another and Parker hit two foul shots with 2:03 left to push the lead to 86-73 and effectively end it.

Cook finished with 11 points and Rasheed Sulaimon added 10.

And in what might have been his finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Parker put on quite a show.

"It's hard to say what `it' is," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, referring to an intangible quality coach Mike Krzyzewski had chided Duke for being without in its loss to UNC.

"But whatever the hell `it' is, Jabari found it," Williams added.

But he says he has time to make that decision.

"Mostly what I'm focusing on is to do as much as possible with these guys (during) my time here," Parker said.

"I just thought he had his best spirit to score tonight that he's had all season, because they're really good, and at times he just wasn't going to be denied," Krzyzewski said. "And then, boom, boom, boom, you hit those 3s (and) that lead can go to double digits quick."

Indeed, when those 3s are falling, the Blue Devils are tough to beat.

When they're not, Duke is usually in trouble.

The Blue Devils were only 5 of 22 from long range in their 74-66 loss in Chapel Hill. They made just 6 of 27 from beyond the arc in a 10-point loss at Wake Forest on Wednesday night.

In this one, Duke missed 12 of its first 14 3-pointers and held a tenuous 47-39 lead when pesky senior guard Tyler Thornton picked up his fourth foul with 17:11 left.

Cook came on to replace him and immediately hit a straightaway 3 that started the Blue Devils' big burst.

"It was good to see the ball go in for the first time," Cook said, adding that Parker "told me he was going to hit me as soon as I came in the game. That's just the trust we have in each other."

Andre Dawkins followed with another one from the corner to help the Blue Devils open up a 53-41 lead.

Parker then added a jumper and two free throws before Cook hit and up-and-under layup. And Hood then followed that with a 3 with 14 minutes left to give Duke its largest lead to that point, 62-46.

And Hood and Parker kept them entertained all night.

"Jabari was sensational, and so was Rodney," Krzyzewski said. "This is the first game where the two of them were sensational together. They've both been good together, but they were sensational together."

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Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joedyap

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