Nick Horvath's first career start was a tad unusual.
The spindly 6-foot-10 freshman spent 41 minutes on the bench at Cameron Indoor Stadium Saturday, watching No. 22 DePaul try to ram Duke's 38-game home winning streak down the Blue Devils' throats.
And the Blue Demons would have succeeded, were it not for Nate James' career-high 22 points and an unconventional three-pointer by a courageous rookie that added another chapter to the Cameron legend.
With Duke trailing 83-81 and 14.6 seconds left in overtime, Horvath-who had re-entered the game moments earlier-caught a pass from Mike Dunleavy at the top of the key and quickly heaved a desperation shot over an on-rushing Steven Hunter.
The ball banked hard off the glass and went in, giving the Blue Devils (5-2) a wild 84-83 victory and making Horvath an unlikely hero.
"The crazy thing about it was he was one of the options we had [set up]," said coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We just didn't tell him to bank it."
Quentin Richardson, who scored 20 points for DePaul (4-2) on 9-for-21 shooting, threw up an airball under pressure from Duke's Chris Carrawell as the clock ran down, and the loose rebound went out of bounds to extend the Blue Devils' ACC-record 39th home win in a row.
Hunter led the Blue Demons with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Shane Battier had 17 for Duke, and Horvath added eight in just four minutes of action.
"I knew I was going to shoot it before I even caught the ball and I just let it go," Horvath said of the game-winner. "I felt it was going to be deep, but I knew I was at the top of the key,
Thousands of sweaty students rushed the floor at the buzzer in a celebration indicative of a game that seemed too intense for December. Chants of "Our House" rained down from the rafters as the lead changed hands seven times in the last 12 minutes.
"We've made a commitment to ourselves that every time we put on the white jersey and we're playing in front of our family and our friends, we aren't going to allow another team to play harder than us or work harder on our floor," Battier said.
The unseasonably warm temperatures outside the building didn't make things any easier on the inside of the steamy arena, either.
"I've never seen Cameron like it was tonight, except when we played Carolina my sophomore year," senior Chris Carrawell said.
DePaul, which pressured Duke into a season-high 23 turnovers and led by as many as 12 points in the second half, was left with nothing to show for a tremendous effort.
"We didn't come here to look good on TV," said DePaul coach Pat Kennedy. "We came here to win a basketball game, so our kids are hurting pretty bad now."
The former Florida State coach is still winless at Cameron and 2-12 against Duke in his career. The Blue Devils improved to 136-17 at home in the 1990s and have won 123 of their last 125 non-conference games at Cameron.
Duke had a chance to win the game in regulation, despite squandering a six-point lead down the stretch. The Blue Devils had the ball with 24 seconds left in a 73-73 game.
But Jason Williams-whose 15 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds fell just shy of Duke's first triple-double in 21 years (Gene Banks did it in 1978)-lost the ball on the Blue Devils' final possession, and the game went to OT.
"I had seven turnovers and that just killed me," said Williams, who played all 45 minutes. "There were some points in the game where fatigue just set in. I'd never played a 45-minute game before-not even all 40 minutes of a game."
In overtime, DePaul grabbed the lead on a Richardson three. Buoyed by the crowd, Duke charged back to take a 79-78 advantage on a dunk by Carlos Boozer.
Simmons quickly gave the lead back to DePaul with two clutch free throws, and Richardson put the Blue Devils on the ropes with an athletic tip-in over Battier's outstretched arms to make it 82-79.
"It's obvious that Richardson is one of the top players in the country," Krzyzewski said. "He's one of the best who's ever played [in Cameron]."
But Duke refused to yield, even without James, who fouled out with five minutes to play in regulation.
Battier hit a short pullup in the lane to make it 82-81 with 38.6 to play, and Simmons left the door open by missing one of two free throws at the other end.
Horvath came back into the game for Carlos Boozer, and he was ready to fire away.
"Coach K put me in there to shoot," Horvath said. "I had an opportunity to do the same thing in the Stanford game, in overtime. I passed up a shot against Illinois. He told me I can't pass up those shots.
"He wants me to shoot it if we're down three or up 20. He's going to put me in there to shoot it, so I let it fly."
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