DURHAM, N.C. — Jaylen Blakes parlayed a career-best performance in an otherwise poor game for Duke before Christmas into his first career start for the Blue Devils on Saturday.
The sophomore took that chance to turn in another solid game, hitting three 3-pointers to score 17 points for the second consecutive game in leading No. 17 Duke to an 86-67 win over Florida State in an ACC basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
As Duke’s leading scorers for the season, Kyle Filipowski (14.4 points per game) and Jeremy Roach (12.8), failed to reach double figures for the second game in a row, Blakes stepped up once again.
Graduate student Ryan Young also played a big role for the Blue Devils (11-3, 2-1 ACC), scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds off the bench. He hit all seven of his shots from the field and was also perfect at the free-throw line on six attempts.
“Ryan Young obviously had a big-time night, not missing a field goal, not missing a free throw,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “But just his rebounding. You know, you feel like when the shots taken, he’s going to come up with the ball.”
A seldom-used reserve last season who has played his way into more minutes this season, Blakes had his breakout performance on Dec. 20 when he scored a career-high 17 points in Duke’s 81-70 loss at Wake Forest.
That game and his work in practice since then landed him in the starting lineup against Florida State, and he made an immediate impact. Blakes scored 11 points in the first half as Duke built a 42-25 halftime lead.
“Working a lot in the summer, obviously, you see it paying off in the season,” Blakes said. “But that confidence had to start from the beginning. The work in the summer is showing now so that’s that’s where the confidence began and it’s kind of grown.”
Florida State (4-11, 2-2) never drew closer than 11 points in the second half.
Duke 7-1 freshman center Dereck Lively returned to the starting lineup after missing the Wake Forest game due to an illness. But Young proved the more effective player inside, producing his second double-double of the season and a season-high point total.
Dariq Whitehead, who also missed the Wake Forest game with an illness, scored 16 points Saturday.
Caleb Mills and Matthew Cleveland led Florida State with 18 points each. Darin Green added 16 points for the Seminoles, who shot 42.9%.
“I thought our defense was back to where we needed it to be,” Scheyer said.
Duke only trailed in the game’s early minutes as it rolled to a 17-point halftime lead with Young (12 points, six rebounds) and Blakes (11 points) leading the way.
The Blue Devils’ defense held Florida State to 36% shooting from the field (9 of 25) over the first 20 minutes. That included the Seminoles hitting just 3 of 10 3-pointers while turning the ball over eight times.
Up 14-13, Duke unleashed a 10-0 run to open some breathing room. Whitehead found a seam in the Florida State defense in the lane before taking a pass from Tyrese Proctor to score and start the run.
Roach hit a 3-pointer for his only made basket of the first half before Whitehead added two free throws and Blakes drilled a 3-pointer giving Duke a 24-13 lead with 8:32 left until halftime.
The Blue Devils scored on six consecutive possessions late in the first half, outscoring FSU 13-5 to take a 42-25 lead.
Young scored three consecutive Duke baskets on post moves in the lane before Jacob Grandison took a kick-out pass from Young to drill an open 3-pointer.
Whitehead scored on a nifty Eurostep layup in transition before stealing a Seminoles pass at the other end of the court to start another fast break. He drew a foul and hit two free throws with 45.3 seconds left in the half giving Duke its 17-point halftime lead.
