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DURHAM -- Ever have an itch you can't scratch? You know the kind. Right in the middle of your back, under about three layers of clothes, annoying as can be.

Turns out, there's a name for that: Greg Paulus.

In a game that featured a phantom technical foul, a singular rebounding performance and a couple of athletic scorers at their athletic scoring best, No. 3 Duke beat No. 13 Georgetown 76-67 Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium -- thanks in large part to a pesky backup point guard.

Paulus came off the bench and scored 10 points, made no turnovers and generally bugged the heck out of whatever bigger Georgetown guy he defended.

"I thought that was, by far, his best performance of the year," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the 6-foot-1 senior. "What he showed was fight. He was playing really good defensively, playing with emotion, and gave us a huge boost. I mean, we don't win the game without Greg today."

Of course, Duke (16-1) also doesn't win without Gerald Henderson's game-high 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting, or Kyle Singler's 16 rebounds and 15 points.

But the Hoyas (12-4) had answers for those. DaJuan Summers scored 21 points to offset Henderson's afternoon, and his seven rebounds led a team effort that allowed Georgetown to finish with just three fewer boards than Duke.

Georgetown had no answer for Paulus' temper-testing defense.

"It was a very intense game," Paulus said. "They're a big, physical team and we've played them a couple of years -- I've played them three times -- so we knew it was going to be that kind of game. We knew that was the type of effort we were going to need in order to win."

The intensity boiled over at one key moment of the second half.

Summers scored six straight points at the end of 13-2 scoring run, helping Georgetown cut a 15-point Duke lead down to 46-42 with 15:07 left.

But 6-11 freshman phenom Greg Monroe -- who was on the bench with three fouls -- drew his fourth on a technical. Monroe was flabbergasted, and immediately pointed to the crowd seated behind the Hoyas' bench.

"A lot of people were saying things," the soft-spoken Monroe said. "I don't even believe (the referee) was really looking at the bench, but I know I definitely didn't say anything. I can't say if I heard someone else, but I know I definitely didn't say anything."

Monroe's hushed voice was barely audible in the postgame news conference, but someone's voice was audible over the Cameron crowd.

Duke's Jon Scheyer, who finished with 11 points, hit the ensuing free throws. Singler scored on a layup when Duke got the ball back, and the Blue Devils led by at least five points the rest of the way.

"The technical was a key part of the game, let's not try to run from that," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "On top of everything, now Greg has four (fouls). It clearly altered how they attacked us and what we could do. But that's not the reason we ended up with less points than them. They played very well. &ellipses; They outplayed us. That's why we lost."

Duke took the lead for good with an 11-0 run over the final 4:39 of the first half. With the score tied at 29, Duke hit three consecutive 3-pointers -- one by Scheyer and two in a row by Henderson -- on three straight possessions. Singler's layup off an assist from Paulus finished the spurt.

"Whenever you can play one of the best teams in the country like Georgetown, you get (big-game) experience," Paulus said. "&ellipses; Those are the types of teams you could see in the NCAA tournament. Having this type of experience to win, it's a good thing for our team."

Notes: Singler's 16 rebounds accounted for half of Duke's team total of 32. &ellipses; Monroe finished with 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting and played 28 minutes -- one below his average -- despite the foul trouble. &ellipses; Georgetown shot 10-for-18 from the foul line, while Duke went 12-for-13. &ellipses; Georgetown came into the game ranked eighth in the nation in field goal percentage defense at 36.7 percent. But Duke hit 48.3 percent of its shots against the Hoyas, including 15-for-27 (55.6 percent) in the first half.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

GEORGETOWN (12-4)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Summers 37 7-12 5-10 1-7 0 1 21

Monroe 28 6-7 0-0 2-6 4 4 12

Wright 22 1-6 1-1 0-4 5 0 3

Freeman 32 7-13 0-0 2-3 1 3 15

Sapp 19 0-2 0-1 1-2 2 2 0

Clark 26 4-7 0-0 0-3 2 4 9

Vaughn 6 0-0 2-2 1-1 0 0 2

Sims 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0

Wattad 24 1-3 2-4 0-1 1 3 5

Totals 200 26-51 10-18 8-29 15 19 67

Percentages: FG .510, FT .556.

3-point goals: 5-15, .333 (Summers 2-4, Wattad 1-2, Clark 1-3, Freeman 1-3, Sapp 0-1, Wright 0-2).

Team rebounds: 2.

Blocked shots: 5 (Monroe 2, Sims, Vaughn, Wright).

Turnovers: 14 (Monroe 4, Clark 3, Summers 2, Sapp 2, Freeman 2, Wright).

Steals: 8 (Summers 4, Monroe, Clark, Freeman, Wattad).

Technical fouls: Monroe.

DUKE (16-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Singler 36 7-19 0-0 6-16 1 4 15

McClure 19 1-1 0-0 0-2 1 4 2

Henderson 34 10-15 0-0 1-4 3 1 23

Smith 31 3-6 2-2 0-2 0 1 9

Scheyer 38 2-7 6-6 1-4 5 1 11

Paulus 23 3-8 2-3 0-0 2 3 10

Pocius 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Williams 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Plumlee 7 1-1 2-2 0-0 0 3 4

Thomas 3 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Zoubek 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Totals 200 28-58 12-13 10-32 14 18 76

Percentages: FG .483, FT .923.

3-point goals: 8-21, .381 (Henderson 3-5, Paulus 2-5, Smith 1-1, Scheyer 1-4, Singler 1-6).

Team rebounds: 2.

Blocked shots: 3 (Henderson 2, Singler).

Turnovers: 12 (Henderson 3, Singler 3, Plumlee 2, Smith, McClure, Scheyer).

Steals: 8 (Scheyer 3, Henderson 2, Smith, McClure, Paulus).

Technical fouls: None.

Georgetown 29 38 -- 67

Duke 40 36 -- 76

Officials--John Cahill, Sean Hull, Jim Burr. A--9,314.