WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Devils snap senior night jinx

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 3, 2009

Durham, N.C. —  In the end, Gerald Henderson made the plays that Duke needed to pull out a win.

Henderson scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds, Kyle Singler added 20 points and seventh-ranked Duke beat No. 24 Florida State 84-81 Tuesday in a back-and-forth contest on Senior Night inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Jon Scheyer added 17 points and Elliot Williams had 14 for the Blue Devils (25-5, 11-4 ACC), who won their first home finale since 2005.

Duke guaranteed itself a chance to at least tie North Carolina (25-3, 11-3) for the regular-season league title with a win over the Tar Heels on Sunday in Chapel Hill. The Devils could win it outright if the Heels also lose at Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.

Toney Douglas scored 27 points and Uche Echefu added 18 for the Seminoles (22-8, 9-6), who lost their third straight to the Devils.

After a poor-shooting, foul-infested first half that ended with Florida State leading 40-34, both teams heated up in the final 20 minutes — leading to a dramatic conclusion.

Douglas completed a comeback from a 72-66 deficit with a contested 3-pointer to give the Seminoles a 76-74 lead with over 2 minutes remaining.

But Duke got two offensive rebounds on its next possession, and Henderson found himself wide-open on the right wing for a 3-pointer that gave the Devils a 77-76 lead with 1:39 remaining that they didn’t relinquish.

Henderson made sure of that, drawing a foul and making two free throws and then putting the exclamation mark on the victory with a hard-earned three-point play on a fast break for a 82-76 lead in the final minute.

After shooting just 10-for-32 in the first half, the Devils found their shooting touch a few minutes into the second half. Singler and Henderson made back-to-back 3-pointers — sandwiched around a Florida State field goal — to tie the game at 48.

Then Singler gave Duke its first lead of the half, 50-48, on a runner. From there, the lead swayed back and forth with neither team able to gain a sizable advantage.

A technical foul on FSU’s Solomon Alabi seemed to give the Devils the momentum. The 7-foot-1 center was whistled for the violation after emphatically dunking over Singler to give the Seminoles a 64-63 lead with 6:38 remaining — but, apparently, coming down too hard on Singler.

Four consecutive free throws by Scheyer and Singler gave Duke a three-point lead, and Williams’ 3-pointer and Singler’s dunk off a baseline drive made the score 72-66 with 5:04 to play.

The Seminoles fought back, with Douglas’ contested 3 cutting their deficit to 72-71 with less than 4 minutes left.

Trailing 12-6 in the opening minutes, the Seminoles reeled off 10 consecutive points — sparked by Echefu’s back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key — to take a 16-12 lead.

They stayed on top by making nine of 14 free throws in the first half and outscoring Duke 14-0 in transition.

With the refs calling the game close and Florida State playing physical with its cadre of big men, the Devils’ frontline quickly got into foul trouble.

Brian Zoubek and David McClure both picked up three first-half fouls — with McClure’s coming with 5.9 seconds left in the half — and Kyle Singler had two.

It didn’t help the Devils that one of their more athletic forwards, Lance Thomas, left the game with 16:34 remaining with a left ankle injury and didn’t return.

McClure fouled out on an over-the-back call with 4:02 remaining. Still, Duke managed to hold its own against FSU’s big frontcourt, losing the rebounding battle 39-36.

Echefu had 11 rebounds and Alabi had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for the Seminoles.

Duke shot 26-for-65 (40 percent) for the game while Florida State shot 30-for-60.

Duke wins on senior night for the first time since 2005. The Blue Devils send seniors Dave McClure, Greg Paulus, and Marty Pocius out with a victory in their final Cameron Indoor Stadium appearance, 84-81 over Florida State.

This was an uphill struggle for Duke, which trailed much of the first and second half. Kyle Singler hit a jumper midway through the second half that finally gave the Blue Devils a lead. Singler scored 20 points, most in the second half, to spark the Blue Devils. Gerald Henderson added 21 points. Toney Douglas led Florida State with 27.

Duke played without Nolan Smith, who is still recovering from a concussion, and Lance Thomas, who was held out with a sprained ankle.  By winning, Duke improves to 9-4 in the conference and can now finish no worse than second in the ACC.