January 16, 2008

Derek Redd, Osceola
Warchant.com

The Florida State men's basketball team is no stranger to 17-point deficits against Duke. They suffered one last year in Durham, N.C., but recovered for an upset win. Wednesday night's game at the Donald Tucker Center was shaping up to be the same way.

The Seminoles survived a nearly seven-minute scoreless streak in the first half to pull ahead by one with 3:46 to go. Jason Rich's lay-up had Duke on its heels, but the Seminoles couldn't finish the Blue Devils off.

It was Duke who barreled into the finish, attacking with a late-game barrage that lead to its 70-57 win.

The momentum from Rich's shot lasted 16 seconds. Duke's Kyle Singler hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to start a 16-2 Blue Devils run.

"After Singler hit that three at the top of the key, it just deflated us a little bit," senior Isaiah Swann said. "It seemed like we just lost it a little bit."

It was FSU's second straight conference loss after opening the ACC schedule with a win at Georgia Tech. Florida State will get its next chance at its second ACC win Sunday at Wake Forest.

Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said Duke simply was the better team Wednesday night.

"I thought the difference in the game tonight is we got beat by a team that executed and maintained their poise for a longer period than we did," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "I thought we lost our poise, rushed some of our possessions and had some opportunities at the basket we just didn't finish."

That was a major problem in the first half. From Swann's basket with 11:05 left in the half until Ralph Mims' shot with 4:13 remaining, the Seminoles (12-6, 1-2 in the ACC) couldn't score a point.

The Blue Devils (14-1, 2-0 in the ACC) went on a 16-0 run, including nine points in less than a minute. Florida State finally started to warm up as the first half wound down, but still went into halftime down 12.

"After the first couple minutes, we went on a roll for eight to 10 minutes that was fantastic," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was so early and that was one of the best defensive teams we played against. It was just hard to score."

FSU pulled back into the game by scoring 18 points in the first 7:32 of the second half, while holding Duke to 5-of-13 shooting in the same period. Rich's lead-changing basket ended a quick 7-0 run for the Seminoles and, while Singler quickly hit his three to regain the lead, Rich didn't feel it killed FSU's momentum.

"When he hit that, I still felt like we had a chance," Rich said. "We got into a good rhythm and we were guarding them pretty well in the second half. I thought we still had a great chance to win the game, but they got the stops when they needed to."

For the game, the Seminoles shot just 35 percent and were outrebounded 44-32.

Duke's Jon Scheyer came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, while Rich led FSU with 18, all scored in the second half. Toney Douglas was the only other Seminole in double figures with 14 points.

Sophomore Ryan Reid made his first appearance since November, scoring six points with four rebounds. Reid had been suspended for team rule violations and missed nine games.

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