No. 1 Duke tops No. 13 FSU basketball with last-second shot

Seminole heartbreak: Florida State loses to Duke with less than one second remaining.

Florida State trailed Duke with less than two minutes left in the game, 76-74. The lead had changed thirteen total times and with a minute and a half left in the game, the ’Noles had tied it up at 76 after Mifondu Kabengele made both of his free throws. With 15 seconds left in the game, the ’Noles took a 2-point lead after PJ Savoy made 2 out of 3 from the charity stripe.

After Duke’s RJ Barrett missed one of his free throws to tie the game, the ball bounced out off of Florida State and it became the Blue Devils’ ball. The Blue Devils’ Cam Reddish then sunk an uncontested triple from outside the arc, giving Duke the lead and eventually the game winning score, 80-78.

On a positive note, even though the Seminoles turned over the ball eleven times in the first half and struggled to rebound the ball at times on both sides, the Seminoles made changes in the second half that seemed to rectify these two problems, finishing with 17 turnovers and with a 39-34 rebounding edge. Florida State had the lead as it entered the second half after PJ Savoy nailed a three and gave the Seminoles the lead, 39-38.

Phil Cofer finally looked as if he was close to getting back into basketball shape. With 12 minutes left in contention, Cofer was 5 of 7 from distance and 7 of 9 overall. Cofer ended up with 21 total points and 7 assists.

Duke’s Zion Williamson did not return to the game after getting poked in the eye by Trent Forrest near the end of the first half. With a little over 10 minutes left, Florida State’s Trent Forrest also went down when both him and Mifondu Kabengele went up to dunk the ball at the same time, but Forrest eventually checked back into the game. Kabengele lead the team with 24 points and had the third double-double of his career.

The Seminoles hit the road and will head to Pittsburg on Monday to face the Panthers. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm.