9. Stephen F. Austin beats #1 Duke at Cameron Indoor.
On November 26, Stephen F. Austin, a small school in East Texas, did the improbable by knocking off #1 Duke 87-85 in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Over the past 3 years, SFA has become known as a potential bracket buster come March, however Duke had not lost a home game in 150 games. The Blue Devils came into the game as 28 point favorites.
The Lumberjacks were able to stifle Duke’s offense the entire game and were able to take away the Blue Devil’s home-court advantage. Duke led by 5 at the half, however the Lumberjacks were able to bounce back in the 2nd half to force overtime. It was in overtime where the Lumberjack magic came to life as mass chaos would ensue.
With 15 seconds left, Duke’s Tre Jones missed a jump shot but Wendell Moore snagged the offensive rebound. Moore kicked it back out to Jack White who passed it back to Jones. Jones drove to the lane however the Lumberjack forced him to make an errant pass. The ball kicked away and was grabbed by Lumberjack Gavin Kensmil who then passed it to Nathan Bain. In a frantic dash across the court, Bain laid the ball in at the buzzer in front of the Cameron Crazies to give the Lumberjacks the upset victory.
As the Lumberjacks went into a frenzy on the court, Cameron Indoor was silent. In the post-game press conference, SFA coach Kyle Keller said “I told our players, banners can’t beat us tonight. The players have to beat us.” Anytime Duke loses, Americans around the country can rejoice. However, there is call for extra celebration when a mid-major like SFA can knock off Coach K’s team on their home-court.
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