Duke defeated at home. Stephen F. Austin stuns No. 1 Blue Devils
Nathan Bain’s layup at the buzzer ended Duke’s 19-year streak of beating nonconference opponents at home and will end the Blue Devils’ time at No. 1 in the country.
Bain’s layup as time expired, after driving the length of the court, gave Stephen F. Austin an 85-83 overtime win over top-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday night.
Duke (6-1) had not lost to a nonconference foe at home since St. John’s beat the Blue Devils 83-82 on Feb. 26, 2000. The streak was 150 consecutive games before the Lumberjacks (5-1) pulled the historic upset.
The Blue Devils hit only 1 of 4 field goal attempts in overtime while turning it over six times, giving them 22 turnovers for the game. The final turnover went to Matthew Hurt, the freshman, who lost the ball in the lane after Tre Jones passed it to him in traffic with seven seconds left and the game tied at 83.
Stephen F. Austin’s Gavin Kensmil grabbed the loose ball and, while sitting on the court, fired it to Bain, who sliced between Jones and Duke’s Jack White before taking off on a clear lane to the basket with four seconds left.
White sprinted after Bain but was one step behind as the ball left his fingers with 0.4 seconds left and fell through the net.
Vernon Carey led Duke with 20 points and 11 rebounds but only made four of his 11 free throw attempts. Jones scored 17 points but turned the ball over a team-high eight times.
Duke turned the ball over three times in overtime before attempting its first shot. The Lumberjacks took the lead on Cameron Johnson’s drive and basket. Carey tied the score at 83 when he tipped in Jack White’s miss with 2:14 left.
Stephen F. Austin took its first lead of the second half with 8:08 to play at 64-62 on a pair of Johnson free throws. There were six lead changes and four ties over the next four minutes before Kevon Harris sank two free throws with 4:09 left giving the Lumberjacks a 73-72 lead.
Bain’s basket in the lane with 3:30 left put the Lumberjacks up 75-72.
Carey scored a basket inside and drew a foul but missed a free throw, leaving Duke down 75-74. But Carey’s blocked shot regained possession for Duke and Stanley’s 3-pointer with 2:18 left put the Blue Devils up 77-75.
David Kachelries drilled a 3-pointer for the Lumberjacks with 1:54 left giving them a 78-77 lead.
Jones missed a 3-pointer for Duke but ran down his own rebound. With the shot clock expiring, Carey took a pass from White and scored with 59.6 seconds left giving Duke a 79-78 lead.
Carey fouled Harris in the lane with 47.2 seconds left. Harris made one of two free throws tying the game at 79.
Jones hit two free throws with 29 seconds to play giving Duke a 81-79 lead. But Kensmil scored inside with 14 seconds left tying the game at 81.
Jones and Stanley missed jumpers in the final seconds sending the game to overtime.
Duke led by as many as 15 points in the first half but saw its lead trimmed to five points at halftime.
Jones’ 3-pointer with 10:04 to play gave Duke a 60-54 lead but the Lumberjacks hung tough. Stephen F. Austin scored on its next five possessions while the Blue Devils made only two of six free throws during the same stretch.
When Johnson sank two free throws with 8:08 to play, the Lumberjacks led 64-62 -- their first lead since the game’s opening two minutes.
And one
Stephen F. Austin guard Kevon Harris was a handful for the Blue Devils. The 6-6 senior scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 26 on 11 of 19 shooting.
Lane violation
Duke made 57.7 percent of its first-half shots, well above the team’s season shooting average of 44 percent. But, after building a 33-18 lead, the Blue Devils allowed the Lumberjacks the lead to 45-40 at halftime by committing 11 first-half turnovers.
ICYMI
With his Detroit Pistons in North Carolina to play the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night, former Duke star Luke Kennard was courtside for Tuesday night’s game. Detroit’s first-round pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, Kennard played two seasons for the Blue Devils. As a sophomore in 2016-17, Kennard averaged 19.5 points per game while making 43.8 percent of his 3-pointers for Duke.
Making sense of the numbers
13: Missed free throws by Duke in the second half
40: Points scored in the first half by Stephen F. Austin. That’s the most Duke has allowed in a first half this season. The only other time Duke allowed 40 points in any half was the second half of a 81-73 win over Georgetown last Friday night.
48.6: Stephen F. Austin’s shooting percentage. Teams had made just 32.5 percent of their shots against Duke previously this season.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 11:39 PM.