Florida State refused to roll over and die on Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, but a big early hole was too much for the 15th-ranked Seminoles to crawl out of in a 75-70 loss at No. 17 Duke.
On Senior Night in Durham, Duke forward Amile Jefferson far from disappointed. In his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Jefferson finished with 14 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Jefferson didn’t play in Duke’s Jan. 10 loss in Tallahassee, but his presence was certainly welcomed by the Blue Devils on Tuesday night.
Duke (23-7, 11-6 ACC) led by as many as 15 points in the first half and took a 34-23 lead to the locker room. After a 6-0 run from FSU (23-7, 11-6 ACC) that carried over from the end of the first half to start of the second cut the lead to nine, Duke responded with eight straight points and led comfortably for most of the night.
Jefferson may have been stellar on Senior Night, but it was a freshman who paced the Blue Devils. Frank Jackson scored 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting to lead all scorers. Luke Kennard added 17 points for Duke. Jayson Tatum, a freshman forward, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in the win.
Florida State, thanks largely to a second half surge from guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, was able to whittle the lead to eight on several occasions over the final six and a half minutes. FSU however, could never get any closer until the waning seconds when it used a 3-pointer and dunk from Dwayne Bacon to make the final score appear closer than the game actually was.
Bacon’s late spurt helped the sophomore finish with a team-high 19 points on 6-for-9 shooting with 16 of those points coming in the second half. Rathan-Mayes was 7-for-13 from the field to finish the night with 15 points.
Both teams will conclude the regular season on Saturday. FSU will return home to face rival Miami as the Seminoles look to complete their first perfect home slate in more than four decades. Duke will head to Chapel Hill as it looks for the season sweep of rival North Carolina.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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