App State Mountaineers at Duke Blue Devils

Allen scores 21, No. 6 Duke routs App State 93-58

Allen scored all 21 of his points in the first half, then injured a toe late in Duke's 93-58 rout of Appalachian State on Saturday.

Allen, who has been playing through a right foot injury suffered in last week's loss to No. 5 Kansas, appeared to tweak that foot or ankle when he went down while going for a rebound with about 12 minutes to play and Duke leading by 35. He stayed on the bench for the rest of the game.

Allen was not available for comment after the game because he was receiving treatment, team spokesman Cory Walton said.

"He just landed funny, and when that happens, it hurts," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It really hurts. He looked fresher in that first half than he has the entire season, and hopefully we'll get there by Tuesday night" when No. 24 Michigan State visits.

Luke Kennard added 18 points and Amile Jefferson and Frank Jackson each finished with 15 for the Blue Devils (6-1), who have won four straight but once again must deal with an injury to a key player. Duke also has been without three injured freshman big men due to injuries and Krzyzewski says those three won't play against Michigan State either.

"That's frustrating, but you do what you need to do and we don't ask anybody to feel sorry for us, and nobody will," Krzyzewski said. "It's just a fact of life. I don't want, `Poor me.' I'm not `Poor me.' I've got good guys. ... Totally the opposite (team) of what we thought we would have."

Kelvin Robinson scored 12 points for the Mountaineers (2-3), who average 89 points but for the first time were held to fewer than 70.

Allen started shooting the ball better in his last game, hitting three 3s in a rout of William & Mary on Wednesday night, and he picked up right where he left off.

He led the way during an opening half in which Duke scored a season-best 55 points and used a 24-12 burst to push the lead into the 20s. Allen keyed the run with two of his four 3s, and Jackson capped it with a layup that made it 53-31.

Matt Jones added 10 points for Duke.

BIG PICTURE

"We knew that they were going to bring pressure offensively, their defense against our offense, and we played way too fast," coach Jim Fox said. "And when we started missing some shots, we kind of got stagnant. ... They got going, they made some shots. I've been here before and that's happened, and it goes quick."

Duke: For the second straight game, injured freshman forwards Harry Giles and Marques Bolden warmed up but didn't play. In their continued absence, Chase Jeter was once again the first post player off the bench, but freshman Javin DeLaurier was impressive and sophomore Antonio Vrankovic scored eight points in 19 minutes. Both could make a push for Jeter's minutes going forward.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Duke showed no evidence that it deserves to be ranked lower than No. 6, though the game against the Spartans should provide a more accurate benchmark.

HIGHLIGHT REEL

The play of the day came with about 7 minutes left in the first half when Jefferson pinned Emarius Logan's layup attempt against the glass. Kennard grabbed the rebound to start the break the other way and lofted a perfect alley-oop pass to Jackson, who finished off the dunk to make it 37-21.

UP NEXT

Appalachian State: The Mountaineers remain in the state and will visit Charlotte on Monday night.

Duke: The Blue Devils play their marquee home nonconference game Tuesday night with a visit from No. 24 Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

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

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More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25.

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