DURHAM, N.C. — No. 9 Duke survived Florida State’s early shooting barrage, wore down the short-handed Seminoles and tightened its grip on first place in the ACC on Saturday night.
Paolo Banchero scored 17 points to lead six Blue Devils scoring in double figures as Duke pulled away in the second half to beat the Seminoles, 88-70, at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Junior Wendell Moore had 16 points with seven assists while freshman A.J. Griffin added 15 points. Fellow freshman guard Trevor Keels also propelled Duke’s offense with 13 points and eight assists as the Blue Devils shot 51.6%.
The Blue Devils (23-4 overall, 13-3 ACC) stretched their winning streak to four and have won nine of their past 10 games.
With four regular-season games remaining, Duke is alone atop the ACC standings, one game in front of Notre Dame (19-8, 12-4) after the Irish lost, 74-71, at Wake Forest earlier Saturday. UNC and Miami, both 19-8 and 11-5, are two games back of Duke.
In coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season, the Blue Devils are chasing their first ACC regular-season championship since 2010.
A 79-78 overtime loser to Florida State on Jan. 18 in Tallahassee, Fla., the Blue Devils were eager for another shot at the Seminoles.
They faced a depleted foe, though.
The Seminoles played without five injured players who were not in uniform, all of whom have started games this season. Senior guards RayQuan Evans and Anthony Polite, sophomore guard Caleb Mills, senior forward Malik Osborne and junior center Raheem McLeod were all out.
After leading 52-41 at halftime despite Florida State shooting 59%, the Blue Devils pushed their lead to 65-49 with 11:48 to play as the Seminoles hit just 2 of their first 12 shots in the second half.
Matthew Cleveland scored 16 points to lead Florida State (14-12, 7-9).
Despite injuries to their top players, the Seminoles stayed with the Blue Devils for most of the first half thanks to their ability to drive into the lane for high percentage shots. When Taner Ngom scored inside with 3:53 left in the half, the Seminoles had scored 26 points in the paint and trailed 38-36.
A Wyatt Wilkes 3-pointer with 3:26 until halftime left Duke up 40-39.
But the Blue Devils closed the half strongly thanks to Joey Baker, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half. His back-to-back 3-pointers fueled an 8-0 Duke run giving the Blue Devils a 48-39 lead.
Duke took a 52-41 lead to halftime even though Florida State hit 17 of 29 shots from the field (58.6%).
