The men's basketball team earned the program's 1,500th victory in dramatic fashion Thursday night, requiring an overtime period to beat Florida State, 72-66.
"It was a landmark game," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The 1,500th win and to do it here in Cameron... I believe there are a lot of spirits in this building. Not just players' spirits, but students' spirits and fans-you just have to raise the roof one time in honor of the 1,500 wins."
The six-point margin was the largest Duke (5-1, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) held for the entire game after a sluggish first half. Four minutes into the second half, the Seminoles (3-1, 0-1 in the ACC) had built a 10-point lead, and a Blue Devil win seemed questionable. Even after Duke got its first lead of the game at the 11:13 mark following a dunk and foul shot by senior Greg Newton to put the Blue Devils up by one, the two teams traded a slim one-point lead for over three minutes.
The Seminoles led by four with just under six minutes left, until sophomore guard Trajan Langdon hit a jumper and a foul shot to tie the game at 56 apiece. Junior Steve Wojciechowski then hit a three-point shot which lit up the Cameron crowd and appeared to secure a win with only 2:45 left. Florida State refused to give up, though. After a driving layup by junior Kerry Thompson and two free throws from senior Kirk Luchman, the Seminoles led by one with under a minute left in regulation.
Langdon had a chance to put the Blue Devils up by one when Luchman fouled out of the game with 38 seconds left, but he missed his first shot to tie the game. Florida State then had two close shots, the last of which bounced off the rim as time expired to send the game into overtime with the score knotted at 63.
Although the Seminoles only led once in overtime, the game remained close, and it took a Langdon three-pointer from Wojciechowski with 43 seconds remaining to put the Blue Devils ahead for good.
"I missed that free throw that I wanted to hit at the end of regulation to put us ahead," Langdon said. "I said to myself 'that last possession, if I get an open look, I'm going to hit it and put it away.'"
The final play of the game was planned by associate coach Tommy Amaker, who called for Newton to set a screen in order for Wojciechowski to dish the ball to Langdon.
"Tommy Amaker called the play," Krzyzewski said. "He punched me in the face, shook me up and mentioned the set we should run. We ran it, Wojo waited, and he got Trajan the three. It was a great call by Tommy and great execution."
The game would not have been as close as it was, however, had the Blue Devils not played so poorly for the first 24 minutes of the game. Duke shot only 23.3 percent in the first half, as compared to Florida State's 51.9 percent shooting. The Seminoles maintained a stringent man-to-man defense which only allowed the Blue Devils to hit seven field goals in the first half of play, despite outrebounding Florida State 20-13. And, as promised, senior James Collins ignited the Seminoles early with his showy style of play. Collins finished the game with 13 points, second only to teammate Randell Jackson, who led FSU with 17.
The Blue Devils were led by Newton, who had a team-high 21 points and 13 boards. Senior Carmen Wallace also recorded a double-double with his 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"Newt was our best player tonight," Krzyzewski said. "He was animated, played a lot of minutes, got a lot of boards, and was a presence inside.
"Carmen was fantastic. He was the only guy going as hard as we wanted in the first half. It's been tough to pump energy into us. I want to thank the students who were here and the kids who were camping out. They really helped us a lot. We needed everything tonight to beat Florida State."
Florida State remains winless in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but the overtime loss is their closest game against Duke since joining the conference-the average margin of victory for the Blue Devils at Cameron in the last five years was 18.2 points. The Seminoles came to Durham to avenge these losses, and their motivation was evident throughout the game.
"They were on a mission here," Krzyzewski said. "They hadn't won and you could tell the way they took it to us for 24 minutes.
"We feel great about beating an outstanding team. Florida State was amazingly prepared and had a lot of energy."
And although the Seminoles could not secure their elusive first win in Cameron, the closeness of the game could be foreshadowing the strength of the ACC and the season to come.
"We've been losing here by an average of 18 points, and I thought we could get the bugaboo off us today, but we couldn't finish it," Florida State coach Pat Kennedy said. "The league is going to be remarkably tough, and I think you're going to see a lot of games of this nature, no doubt."
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