LIVE BLOG: Duke 84, Florida State 81 (FINAL)

Duke 84, FSU 81, FINAL - And that's a wrap. The No. 7 Blue Devils beat No. 24 Florida State for their first win on senior day in four years. More after the senior speeches and interviews.

Duke 82, FSU 78,  25.5 SECOND HALF - Zoubek tipped a rebound to Henderson, who took it the length of the floor and finished despite being fouled and sank the free throw to cap his 20 point performance. He has a double-double on the night, with 10 rebounds.  He, along with Singler, came alive in the second half to do what they do best and lead Duke to victory. More after the game.

Duke 77, FSU 76,  1:36 SECOND HALF - It's coming down to the wire. Douglas gives Florida State back the lead with a rediculously long three (and a hand in his face), but Henderson answers to put Duke back up.

Duke 72, FSU 71,  3:39 SECOND HALF - With 4:02 left, Dave McClure picks up a questionable foul on a rebound attempt. That's his fifth, and the senior is done with four points and two rebounds. The crowd gave him a nice senior ovation, but that doesn't take the look of frustration off his face.

Ever since Singler's last dunk, the noise has reached another level in here. Not even a Douglas three to pull the Seminoles within one could quiet this crowd.

The fouls are coming at a much slower place this half, but many Blue Devils are in foul trouble. McClure and Williams are guarding Douglas, and McClure is doing this with four fouls. It will be interesting to see if Douglas tries to exploit this.

Duke 55, FSU 52,  11:39 SECOND HALF - And the jacket is off.  More importantly, the lid that was on Duke's basket is off two. The offense exploded for ten points in the past four minutes, including an 8-2 run to erase the Seminoles lead.  Single, Henderson and Scheyer all hi threes, and Singler also added a beautiful floater and slashing spin move.

Zoubek is back in for Duke. You can count on him to have an impact on the rest of the game.

Duke 40, FSU 42,  15:29 SECOND HALF - With Lance Thomas still in the locker room, Brian Zoubek with his three fouls is the big man of choice for Duke. He made his presence known with a nice finish on a pass from Scheyer and collected a defensive rebound on the next possession.

Williams displayed his slashing ability with a drive to the hoop, but it was his drive in capped off with a dunk that brought Cameron alive for the first time tonight.

In a scary development for Duke, the injury bug is back this half. Jon Scheyer rolled around in obvious pain under the Blue Devils basket before getting up and hobbling down the floor. WHen time stopped, he did not want to come out, but Coach K put in Paulus. Zoubek, meanwhile, is out of the game bleeding from his face on the sideline. It looks like it is right under his eye, the type of flesh wound Kyle Singler dealt with often last year.

Duke 34, FSU 40,  HALFTIME - Greg Paulus gave the crowd the three they wanted with a little more than a minute remaining. However, Duke still went into the locker room down by 6.

The key to the second half will be to find someone who can put a body on Florida State's big men. Echefu leads all scoreres with 14, and 7'-1" Solomon Alabi has six as well.  Lance Thomas went to the locker room midway through the half, so either Bryan Zoubek or Miles Plumlee will have to fill that void. Due to the (record?) number of fouls in the first half, Duke's remaining big men already have 3 and 2 fouls, respectively. Florida State also has 14 fast break points to Duke's zero.

Douglas, who averages 20.6 points a game, is on track to hit his average with 12 in the first half. Scheyer leads the Blue Devils with 11.

Look for more Henderson in the second half - he has been relatively quiet with only seven points and no signature dunks. 

Duke 26, FSU 32, 3:43 FIRST HALF - The Blue Devils came out of the timeout strong, cutting the lead in half with a free throw by Williams and Paulus' first three, which caused a minor eruption from the Crazies. On the next trip down the floor, Paulus made a great assist when he found Singler underneath the basket. Singler caught the ball, went reverse baseline, and put Duke within four again. Douglas, though, layed in his ninth points of the contest to push the Seminole lead back to six.

The Blue Devils need either a big Henderson dunk or another Paulus three to get them going. Up until this point, that extra level has not been there.

Duke 20, FSU 28, 6:02 FIRST HALF - Not a good segment for Duke. Since the last media timeout, Florida State has gone on a 8-3 run. Echefu added another short jumper, Miles Plumlee saw his shot fail to hit the rim after being partially blocked, and Douglas nailed a three on the next possession. When Florida State added another two, Coach K called timout.

On another note, both teams are already into the bonus period as the foul parade continues.

Duke 17, FSU 20, 7:49 FIRST HALF Things are starting to heat up here in Cameron. The two teams changed pushes and shoves, and it all culminated when Florida State caoch Lenard Hamilton recieved a technical for being a little too chippy. Scheyer capitalized on the coach's gift, but the Crazies stayed on the refs when they called fould they didn't agree with on Zoubek and Williams.

The Seminoles have been using a more balanced attack than normal. Douglas only has 4 of his teams points, and the big men have been punching it in down low, lead by Echefu's eight points.

Duke 12, FSU 16, 11:35 FIRST HALF - Jon Scheyer made an unbelievable three from the corner despite being hammered. He sank the ensuing free throw to cap the rare four point play. A few possessions later, Williams did his best Henderson impression when we flew through the air to tap home arebound from - who else - a Henderson miss.

On the other side of the floor, Uche Echefu sank two consecutive threes to give the Seminoles the lead. And Douglas showed some of his trade mark defense when he intercepted a Pocious pass and converted it for an easy layup.

Duke 4, FSU 4, 15:45 FIRST HALF - After missed shots by both other seniors, Dave McClure nails the first jumper of the night to give the Blue Devils the 2-0 lead. Henderson adds a long two, but the real happening so far is that Lance Thomas was helped off the court with what appears to be a left ankle injury. They took his shoe off on the bench and are currently working on him now. More news to come.

All three seniors left the court at the 17:17 mark and were replaced by the more familiar faces of Williams, Scheyer and Thomas. McClure returned for Thomas, but Brian Zubek is waiting to check in when we return.

PREGAME - Welcome to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the last time this year. It's senior night, and all of the oldest Cameron Crazies are in the front of the student section ready to cheer on their classmates. The Blue Devil mascot is sporting an appropriate tagline for the night - Seniors Slaughter Seminoles.

The senior night presentation started with 12:00 minutes left on the pregame countdown. When the announcer says that this class has led Duke to three NCAA appearances, including one Sweet 16 birth, there are some less-than-subtle groans from the students behind me.  Marty Pocious, who is foregoing his final year of eligibility, goes first, and the grad students salute him with Lithuanian flags. Dave McCulre followed, but the loudest cheers of the night were (of course) saved for Greg Paulus, who wiped tears from his eyes at center court. When Paulus' parents are announced, a few Crazies to my left chant "One more kid!" Too bad they already have six.

All three seniors will start for the Blue Devils, and they are flanked by Kyle Singler and Gerlad Henderson.

You can check out Tim Britton's Beyond the Arc column for the anticipated story line behind tonight's  matchup with Florida State.  Basically, can Duke's ball handlers evade one of the best on-ball defenders in Toney Douglas?

And on a side note, Nolan Smith is on the bench dressed in his best argyle  sweater and khakis, so don't expect him to take the court.