CHARLOTTE — Duke sophomore Isaiah Evans scored 22 first-half points, but the top-ranked Blue Devils trailed No. 8 seed Florida State 44-43 at halftime in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Florida State’s Robert McCray V made a lay-up at the buzzer to give the Seminoles a halftime lead.
The first half had eight ties and 15 lead changes.
Evans made 7-of-11 field goal attempts, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Cameron Boozer, the ACC player of the year, had 11 points and five rebounds.
Duke played without point guard Caleb Foster (right foot fracture) and center Patrick Ngongba (right foot soreness). Both are out for the tournament. Duke played seven players in the first half.
Cayden Boozer, who started in place of Foster, was 1-for-5 from the field and missed all four of his 3-point tries.
Lajae Jones led Florida State with 16 points. McCray had 11 points.
A loss is unlikely to move the Blue Devils (29-2) off the top seed line in the NCAA Tournament, but could keep Duke from being the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
No. 8 seed Florida State (18-14) has won four straight games and 10 of its last 12 games as it tries to make a late surge for the NCAA Tournament.
The winner plays the winner of No. 4 seed North Carolina and No. 5 seed Clemson.