One-room wrecking crew: Bassett 119 wipes out Seminoles

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - For the first half of Sunday's Duke-Florida State basketball game, the often inconsistent Seminoles played up to their tied-for-first-place ranking in the ACC.

However, the game proved to be a tale of two halves, as the No. 6 Blue Devils erased a two-point halftime deficit to run away with an 85-54 victory. Duke (13-2, 4-0 in the ACC) now holds sole possession of first place in the conference with three of its eight conference road games already completed.

Trailing 34-32 at halftime, the Blue Devils came out scorching in the second period, embarking on a 19-5 run and hitting 12 of their first 16 shots. From there, Duke never looked back, as it continued to control both ends of the floor and reached its largest lead of 31 points at the game's conclusion.

The Blue Devils outscored the Seminoles 53-20 in the second half, as upperclassmen Shane Battier and Chris Carrawell rebounded from poor first halves while freshmen Jason Williams and Carlos Boozer continued to carry Duke as they had in the first half.

"The freshmen really picked us up," Carrawell said. "Carlos dominated inside and Jason really took over the game. Without those guys picking us up in the second half, we wouldn't have made it to this point."

Boozer, who was the Blue Devils' favorite target all afternoon, finished with 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while Williams paced Duke with 20 points, four steals and only two turnovers.

Williams was not the only Blue Devil to value the ball, as Duke combined for only eight total turnovers as a team, a vast improvement from its early season performances.

"Our halfcourt offense was executed real well," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "This was the second straight game where we've had less than double figures in turnovers. I think that's indicative of Jason's performance at the point."

Carrawell's stifling defense on Hale was only a microcosm of a solid overall defensive effort by the Blue Devils, which surrendered only 20 second-half points on 29 percent shooting, snagged fifteen steals and blocked six shots.

"Our defense was really the story of the game," Krzyzewski said. "They just didn't get many open looks in the second half, and we turned those into points.

"We played really well in the second half, I mean really well. I've coached this team for 15 games, and that's as well as we've played defensively."

Despite the Blue Devils' strong defensive effort throughout the game, the outcome was in doubt until the second half, as Duke trailed FSU 34-32 at halftime. With the score tied at 12 points apiece, Boozer, who registered 13 first-half points, helped the Blue Devils engineer a 10-3 run to distance themselves from the Seminoles.

This lead was short-lived, however, as the Seminoles responded with a run of their own, outscoring Duke 15-5 over a six-minute period to give the home team a 30-27 lead with just over 2:30 remaining in the half.

The run featured a balanced scoring attack, as the 'Noles were paced by forward Damous Anderson and guard Delvon Arrington, who had 10 and nine first half points, respectively.

From there, the two teams battled to a defensive stalemate to end the half, which accounted for FSU's two-point margin at the intermission.

But the Blue Devils made a resounding statement to win the game in the second period, as they knew that a victory would be necessary to solidify sole possession of first place in the ACC.

"There was a sense of urgency," Krzyzewski said. "We knew that we were playing a team that was good and confident, and for us to play well defensively in that type of situation makes me feel good."

Note: Williams was named ACC rookie of the week yesterday for his performances against Florida State and Georgia Tech.