Duke outlasts FSU: Devils pull out 70-56 win at home

The Big Three for eighth-ranked Duke came through last night, grinding out 70-56 victory over Florida State.

Those three — Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith — helped the Blue Devils win their 39th straight against an unranked opponent at Cameron Indoor Stadium. They scored 53 of the Blue Devils' 70 points on a night when baskets were hard to come by.

"We just came out and did what we needed to do," said Scheyer, who had 22 points andfive assists.

Singler added 20 points and seven rebounds, helping the Blue Devils (17-3, 5-2 ACC) penetrate a Seminoles' defense that statistically is the best in the ACC. Smith, who had an off night shooting and was just 4 of 15, added 11 points with four assists and four rebounds.

The Blue Devils opened a 10-point lead at halftime, and then quickly jumped out to a 16-point lead five minutes into the second half. A 3-pointer by Singler followed by two free throws gave the Blue Devils their biggest lead at 51-35.

The Seminoles (15-5, 3-3) were the last unranked team to beat the Blue Devils at home, pulling out a 68-67 win on Feb. 4, 2007. This time, however, not enough offense proved costly.

Despite being down by 16, the Seminoles fought back to cut the margin to four going on a 12-0 run sparked by Chris Singleton (14 points) and Michael Snaer (13 points).

"They are really big as a team and are long and they are just a tough team to drive against," Singler said. "I thought we shot the ball pretty well. I think the main thing is we made the big plays at the end to get the win."

After the Seminoles cut the lead to four, Scheyer made a jumper, Brian Zoubek got a tip-in and Singler made a long 3-pointer off a nice pass from Scheyer to push their lead back to nine.

A little later Lance Thomas, who had six points, six rebounds and two steals, scored on a tip-in with 4:51 left to push the lead to 60-49.

The Seminoles never did get the deficit back into single digits. When Miles Plumlee got a breakaway dunk with 1:25 left, the Blue Devils were in command with a 16-point lead.

Coach Leonard Hamilton of the Seminoles said: "I thought Duke did an excellent job on offense. And they did a good job of getting their defense working."

Duke shot 43 percent, but was a respectable 8 of 22 on 3-point attempts. The Seminoles haven't allowed a team to shoot 50 percent or better in their past 56 games, so the Blue Devils knew it would be a defensive battle.

"They are real tough and obviously a team that is as big and long they are they are going to be a good rebounding team and they affect shots," Zoubek said. "You just have to adjust."

The Blue Devils led by as many as 10 in the first half, thanks to the shooting of Scheyer. He hit 5 of 8 shots in the first half as they shot 45.5 percent over the first 20 minutes.

One bright spot for Duke in the first half was the play of freshman Andre Dawkins, who had seen limited playing time. He hit a 3-pointer and had a steal in seven solid minutes in the first half.
"I got into a rhythm a little bit and was able to hit a shot so that was nice," Dawkins said. "I just wanted to try and help as much as I could."

The key for the Blue Devils was their ability to drive into the teeth of the Seminoles' defense, and kick the ball out to open shooters. The Seminoles had six blocked shots.

"The way we were able to get penetration and kicks was big," Singler said. "That was our game plan, get in the paint, and knowing they are a shot-blocking team, we would be open for shots and that's what we took tonight."

Defensively, Duke put the clamps down when it needed to. The Seminoles had 22 turnovers.

"It's a big part, our defense, because we knew it would be a low-scoring game," Singler said. "They are a good defensive team too and getting on them and playing good defense was our plan."
jdell@wsjournal.com
727-4081
FSU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Singleton 33 5-10 2-7 4-9 1 2 14
Reid 24 3-6 0-0 1-3 3 0 6
Alabi 27 6-12 2-3 2-10 0 4 14
Dulkys 17 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 4 0
Kitchen 34 1-2 0-1 2-7 10 2 3
Jordan 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Gibson 13 3-7 0-0 2-4 0 3 6
DeMercy 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Loucks 25 0-6 0-0 0-2 3 2 0
Snaer 26 5-9 2-3 2-3 1 2 13
Totals 200 23-54 6-14 15-40 18 20 56
Percentages: FG .426, FT .429; 3-Point Goals: 4-13, .308 (Singleton 2-4, Kitchen 1-2, Snaer 1-2, Dulkys 0-1, Jordan 0-1, Loucks 0-3); Team Rebounds: 2; Blocked Shots: 6 (Singleton 3, Alabi 2, Snaer); Turnovers: 22 (Snaer 5, Singleton 4, Alabi 4, Kitchen 3, Gibson 2, Reid 2, Loucks, Dulkys); Steals: 7 (Loucks 3, Singleton 2, Dulkys 2).
DUKE Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Singler 38 7-15 3-6 1-7 3 4 20
MiPlumlee 19 1-4 0-0 2-4 0 2 2
Thomas 35 2-3 2-3 3-6 1 3 6
Smith 38 4-15 3-4 1-4 4 1 11
Scheyer 38 7-12 4-4 1-4 5 2 22
MaPlumlee 8 0-2 0-0 1-1 1 1 0
Dawkins 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Kelly 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Zoubek 13 3-4 0-0 2-3 2 5 6
Totals 200 25-58 12-17 11-30 16 19 70
Percentages: FG .431, FT .706; 3-Point Goals: 8-22, .364 (Scheyer 4-6, Singler 3-10, Dawkins 1-2, Ma.Plumlee 0-1, Smith 0-3); Team Rebounds: 1; Blocked Shots: 2 (Thomas 2); Turnovers: 12 (Scheyer 4, Singler 2, Smith, Kelly, Thomas, Zoubek); Steals: 10 (Scheyer 3, Thomas 2, Singler 2, Smith, Mi.Plumlee, Dawkins).
Florida State 29 27 — 56
Duke 39 31 — 70
A—9,314