Duke shows its championship mettle in comeback win over Florida State :: WRAL.com

CHARLOTTE — Down two injured starters and eight points in the second half to surging Florida State, Duke coach Jon Scheyer called timeout and challenged the top-ranked Blue Devils to find their competitive edge and see the opportunity before it.

“I just tried to get them to look at it as an opportunity,” said Scheyer, the ACC Coach of the Year. “It was a true opportunity for me to be down eight and see what we’re all about in that moment.”

The Blue Devils, the No. 1 team in the nation and an NCAA Tournament title favorite, showed what they are made of. Duke went on a 19-2 run after the timeout and held off Florida State 80-79 to advance to Friday’s ACC Tournament semifinals.

Isaiah Evans scored a career-high 32 points and Cameron Boozer had another double-double for Duke (30-2).

Robert McCray V missed a stepback jumper at the buzzer that would have given the eighth-seeded Seminoles the victory. 

“The character that our guys showed in that moment was big time,” Scheyer said.

Duke had won its final six conference games by an average margin of 26.5 points with each win by at least 13 points. The Blue Devils led the nation in scoring margin at plus-20.5.

But the Blue Devils were without point guard Caleb Foster (right foot fracture) and center Patrick Ngongba (right foot soreness). Foster was injured in the regular-season finale and Ngongba missed his second consecutive game.

“We’re making no excuses, next man up,” said Boozer, the league’s player and newcomer of the year. “… I think it just says that we can win ugly. Obviously we don’t want to win ugly, but we can if we have to.”

ACC Tournament: Schedule, results

Florida State cut it to 1 twice in the final 90 seconds, but never took the lead.

Thanks, in part, to the hot shooting of Evans, who grew up in Charlotte and attended North Mecklenburg High School. He made 7-of-16 3-pointers and 11-of-20 shots overall and added six rebounds and three assists. 

Evans had 23 points and four made 3-pointers in Duke’s season opener in Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.

“He’s hit big shots in every building we’ve played in,” Scheyer said. “But I do think there’s a different look in his eye when he’s here, there’s no question.”

Boozer had 23 points and 10 rebounds, good for his 18th double-double of the season. Cayden Boozer, who started in place of Foster, struggled for most of the night. He was 3-of-10 on field goal attempts and 0-for-5 from 3-point range, but he had a key dunk with 1:01 remaining.

“Their youth, how talented and tough those kids are, there’s a reason they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” Florida State coach Luke Loucks said. “There’s a reason they’re favorites to win the ACC and favorites to win the national title. That’s a well put together team with a lot of selfless kids that are tough and about the right things.”

Lajae Jones had 28 points and McCray added 25 for Florida State (18-15), which had won four straight and 10 of its last 12 games.

Duke had 22 offensive rebounds and 24 second-chance points. Maliq Brown, the ACC Sixth Man and Defensive Player of the Year, had eight offensive rebounds among his 12 total. Brown had three steals, including on back-to-back possessions during Duke’s second-half run. Cameron Boozer had five offensive rebounds.

“The problem was even when he missed those shots, he’s so strong down there, he’s such a grown man, that he got his own rebound a lot of the times,” Loucks said.

The first half had eight ties and 15 lead changes as the teams went back and forth.

Duke plays the winner of No. 4 seed North Carolina and No. 5 seed Clemson in Friday’s semifinals.

READ MORE: Murph’s Turph: Wolfpack’s good not good enough vs. Virginia