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Duke Blue Devils back on top

By Associated Press | Monday, March 16, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | College Basketball

Photo

Photo by AP

 

ATLANTA - A year ago, as they walked off the court after another early exit from the NCAA tournament, Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson made sure to soak it all in. They didn’t want to forget how much it hurt. They didn’t want to forget how it felt to be denied a championship.

 

Yesterday, they finally got their title.

 

Led by its two junior stars, No. 9 Duke swamped upstart Florida State with a barrage of 3-pointers on the way to a 79-69 victory in the title game yesterday, giving the Blue Devils their ninth ACC crown in 12 years.

 

Scheyer scored 29 points and was named tournament MVP, Henderson had 27 and Duke (28-6) turned in one of its most complete performances of the season to keep their Tobacco Road heirloom from heading down to the Sunshine State with No. 22 Florida State (25-9). It couldn’t have come at a better time, with NCAA bids going out later in the day.

 

How complete? Duke had more steals (five) than turnovers (four), outrebounded the taller, bulkier Seminoles, 35-34, and buried Florida State with a 12-of-25 showing from beyond the arc.

 

The genesis of this championship can be traced to the final game last season. After losing in the ACC tournament and surviving a first-round scare from Belmont, the Blue Devils were eliminated in the second round of the NCAAs by West Virginia.

 

“We wanted to remember that moment. We wanted to remember how it felt,” Scheyer said. “That was something we never wanted to experience again. We wanted to do whatever we could to never let it happen again.”