For the first time in 19 years, the Duke men’s basketball team fell on their home floor to a non-conference opponent. Stephen F Austin got a breakaway layup from Nathan Bain just before the final horn in overtime on Tuesday night to stun the #1 Blue Devils 85-83 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the second big upset so far this season in college basketball.
Just two weeks to the night that the Purple Aces from Evansville University pulled an upset over then #1 Kentucky at Rupp Arena in Lexington, the Lumberjacks of SFA were able to do the same in knocking off a #1 in improving to 5-1 on the season. Duke (6-1) led most of the first half extending a six point lead by using a 12-3 run to take the biggest advantage of the game at 33-18. But the visitors responded with a 20-8 run to cut it to 41-38, and would trail just by five 45-40 at halftime.
The Blue Devils built the lead back to seven twice in the second half before the Lumberjacks took their first lead since an early 3-2 advantage on a pair of free throws by Cameron Johnson with 8:09 left at 64-62. A Bain jumper gave SFA their biggest lead of three with 3:30 to play. The two teams would then swap leads over the last 2:18, before a pair of free throws from Tre Jones put Duke up again 81-79 with 29 seconds to go. Gavin Kensmil tied it with a layup off a nice feed from Kevon Harris for the Lumberjacks with 19 seconds left, and then Cassius Stanley missed a last second jumper on the other end to send the game into overtime. Both teams struggled in the extra session only scoring a combined six points. Johnson had a layup for the SFA lead at the 2:58 mark, while Vernon Carey Jr. tied it back up for Duke with a layup with 2:14 left. The Blue Devils had a chance to win it after rebounding a Lumberjacks miss with 38 seconds showing on the clock. Jones missed a three with 16 seconds to go, but Dukes Matthew Hurt got the offensive rebound before being stripped of the ball by Kensmil who scooped it up while on the floor and knocked it forward to a streaking Bain who went in alone for a layup that he released good off the glass just before the clock hit zeros sending the Lumberjacks bench into hysterics. Since a St. Johns win over Duke back in 2000, the Blue Devils had won 150 straight non-conference games on their home floor.
