Attending a Duke-N.C. State game is like going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting-everyone's a little on edge and everyone's got a hard-luck story to share.
And for 10 minutes at the conclusion of regulation Saturday afternoon, the tension in Cameron was enough to force even the most straight-laced of fans to hit the bottle.
With the score knotted at 70-70 and the game and shot clocks running down, State's Todd Fuller lofted a controversial airball three-point attempt that fell into the hands of Al Pinkins. Pinkins was fouled with no time remaining in the game, giving the Wolfpack a chance to steal a victory.
"I was actually praying," senior Chris Collins said. "I said a little prayer to myself, 'Please give us another chance.'"
After consulting with a sideline television monitor for nearly 10 minutes, the officials answered Collins' prayer, ruling that State had committed a shot clock violation on Fuller's airball, nullifying the foul on junior Greg Newton.
That decision propelled the Blue Devils to overtime, where they rallied from another possible heart-wrenching loss to pull away for a 79-76 Atlantic Coast Conference win.
The win for Duke (15-10, 6-7 in the ACC) kept the Blue Devils' postseason hopes alive and propelled them into fourth place in the conference, percentage points ahead of Maryland. N.C. State dropped its second nail-biter of the year to the Blue Devils to fall to 14-11 (3-9 in the ACC). One month ago, Collins' long-range three rattled in to give the Blue Devils a one-point win in Raleigh.
"Another average afternoon in the ACC," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski deadpanned. "I feel like a prizefighter and I didn't even play."
For two teams who between them had combined for 16 defeats by five points or less and three overtime losses, the confusion of the end of regulation could have meant disaster. But the shot clock violation call was undisputed by both coaches.
"It was one of the few times in my life where I just let [the officials] go," Krzyzewski said. "I knew it was the shot clock. They're going to see without me telling them."
N.C. State head coach Les Robinson concurred that it was an "accurate call." According to Robinson, the main argument between the coaches and the officials was over the amount of time to put back on the clock. They settled on 3.6 seconds.
So with the clock reset and the ball in the hands of the Blue Devils, junior Jeff Capel launched a potentially game-winning 30-footer, but it clanked harmlessly off the rim.
"It's probably appropriate that we didn't hit a shot to win," Krzyzewski said. "It should go to overtime."
And in overtime, Capel and Collins took things into their own hands. Capel, who paced the Blue Devils with 27 points, seven rebounds and five assists, canned two quick jumpers and grabbed a couple of key rebounds to give the Blue Devils the early edge in the overtime period. But with the Duke lead cut down to one point with time running down, Collins was fouled and had a chance to repeat his heroics against the Wolfpack. With 13 seconds remaining, Collins drained his two free throws to up the lead to three.
"[Chris] wanted the ball at the end of the game," Krzyzewski said. "We wanted him to have the ball. We felt confident he would hit his free throws."
Following a Duke timeout, the Wolfpack pushed the ball up the court with a chance to tie the game on a three-pointer. But Curtis Marshall's long three clanked off the rim, and a mob of white jerseys dove for the ball.
"I think it's very indicative of the way we fought at the end that four or five of our defenders were in the paint diving on the floor," Collins said. "What a great way to finish a game."
For such an exciting finish, the game started out as an ugly, defensive struggle. The Blue Devils shot just 33 percent in the first half, but State could barely muster a better effort, hitting on only 37 percent of its shots. Duke, usually dependent on its three-point shots, managed to lead by one, 26-25, despite missing on all five three-point attempts.
"The defense in the first half was stifling by us and them," Krzyzewski said. "And the second half was great basketball for both teams."
Capel caught fire to open the second half, hitting on his first four shots to up the Duke lead to 10 just four minutes into the second half.
"Every time I shot the ball, I thought it was going in," Capel said.
Following Capel's outburst, the Wolfpack hung close on Fuller's strong inside play and Danny Strong's five three-pointers. State trailed for the remainder of regulation until Strong canned his last shot of the day with a minute to play to tie the game, leading to the shot clock controversy.
But one of the main keys to the Blue Devils' success against the Fuller-led Wolfpack front line was the solid contribution of freshman Taymon Domzalski. Domzalski, who has fouled out of eight games this year, picked up only four fouls and managed to play a career-high 36 minutes against one of the ACC's best centers. Even though Fuller finished with 25 points, he was constantly harassed by Domzalski.
"Of all our guys, Taymon can at least come close to him in strength," Krzyzewski said.
"Taymon made Fuller work for everything," Capel said. "Taymon gives us a presence we haven't had. He's already improved so much this year. He's understanding how to play hard without fouling."
With Domzalski's improved play and sophomore Ricky Price's high-flying acrobatics, the Blue Devils managed to secure their sixth conference win in nine games.
"We're right there in the middle of the pack," Capel said. "We just want to keep playing tough defensively. We feel confident about our team and the rest of the season."
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