The Florida State Seminoles lead the Duke Blue Devils 33-31 after one half of their ACC Tournament semifinal game in Atlanta. The first half was characterized by sloppy and sluggish offense on both ends, but the FSU defense forced Duke into 14 turnovers and took the two-point lead into the locker room.
ACC Tournament Semifinal, Florida State Vs. Duke: Seminoles Impressive On Defensive End, Lead By Two At Half
It was a back-and-forth twenty minutes full of lead changes. The largest lead for either team was seven points, which FSU took at the under four timeout on the hot hand of guard Ian Miller. The sophomore from Charlotte is playing some of his best basketball of the year, and went toe-to-toe with Duke's Austin Rivers at the end of the half, finishing with seven points. Miller did most of his damage in transition, including a beautiful finger roll that started the Nole's mini-run in the final 7 minutes.
Along with Miller in the backcourt is senior leader Michael Snaer, who beat Duke with a buzzer beater in Cameron earlier this year. Snaer has seven points in the first half, including a nice play where he picked the pocket of Quinn Cook and took it the other way for a wide open dunk. Video of the play below:
Meanwhile, in the Duke backcourt, it was Rivers who led the Devils with nine points. But the freshman phenom is saddled with three fouls, and will have to be tentative and careful early in the second half. Rivers was whistled on a reach-in foul, and was sent to the bench with his third despite a bewildered plea to the contrary.
For more on the two teams, check out Florida Seminoles blog Tomahawk Nation and Duke Blue Devils blog Duke Basketball Report. For more on college tournaments nationwide, head over to SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For more on the ACC tourney, make sure to follow this StoryStream.
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