Down 20 at home, Duke rallies to beat N.C. State
DURHAM, N.C. -- No deficit seems too deep these days for No. 5 Duke, even if the Blue Devils insist they can't afford to keep winning this way.
For the second time in nine days, Duke staged a remarkable comeback to beat a neighborhood rival. This time the Blue Devils rallied from a 20-point deficit in the final 11:33 and topped North Carolina State 78-73 on Thursday.
"This is a great win, but we're exhausted, man," freshman guard Austin Rivers said. "I'm so proud and everybody's so proud, but at the same time, we need to stop doing this. ... To be down in 20 in Cameron should never happen."
Seth Curry scored 21 of his season-high 26 points in the second half while Rivers added 16 on 4-of-13 shooting for the slow-starting Blue Devils (22-4, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who trailed by 16 at the half -- the largest halftime deficit overcome by Duke under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"They thoroughly outplayed us for about 29 minutes," Krzyzewski said. "And then we thoroughly outplayed them for 11."
The Blue Devils did it with rallies of 13-0 and 20-3 to erase that huge deficit and remain atop the league standings along with No. 20 Florida State and No. 8 North Carolina. Last week, Duke stormed back from 10 points down in the final 2½ minutes to beat the Tar Heels.
Lorenzo Brown scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (18-8, 7-4), who trailed 76-73 with the ball in the final seconds with a chance to force overtime.
But Brown missed a contested 3-pointer from the corner with about seven seconds left, and Curry made two free throws with 2.2 seconds to go to seal N.C. State's 14th straight loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"We're a good team. We've got to find a way to become a little bit better," Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried said.
N.C. State led 61-41 after Brown's free throw with 11:33 to play. Then the Blue Devils finally showed some life.
They started coming back by reeling off 11 straight points, with Curry hitting three free throws and Andre Dawkins making a 3-pointer before Curry's jumper with 8:44 left made it 61-52 -- the first time Duke was within single digits since midway through the first half.
After DeShawn Painter put N.C. State up 68-56 with 6:10 left, Rivers hit a 3-pointer to trigger the Blue Devils' final surge. He had nine points in the run.
AROUND THE NATION
SPARTANS TIED TOP BIG TEN -- At East Lansing, Mich., Draymond Green and Keith Appling each scored 20 points, and No. 7 Michigan State (21-5, 10-3 Big Ten) moved back into a first-place tie with Ohio State with a 69-55 win over No. 15 Wisconsin (19-7, 8-5).
SNAER'S 3 SAVES SEMINOLES -- At Tallahassee, Fla., Michael Snaer's 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left capped a rally from a 15-point deficit in the final 14 minutes that kept Florida State (18-7, 9-2) in a first-place tie in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 48-47 victory over Virginia Tech (14-12, 3-8).
REGIONAL
CARLINO POWERS BYU WIN -- At San Francisco, Matt Carlino scored a career-high 30 points, including the winning basket with 21 seconds left, as Brigham Young (22-6, 10-3 West Coast) got its sixth win in seven games, 85-84 over San Francisco (17-11, 7-7). Carlino, a transfer from UCLA who became eligible Dec. 17, is the first Cougars player to score 30 points since Jimmer Fredette last season.
