Morning Dribble: Furious Rallys Lead Duke And Florida State To Victories

After a run in the second half by Santa Clara, Gonzaga restored order in its West Coast Conference clash and pulled away for a 73-62 victory.

Robert Sacre led the Bulldogs with 20 points, and Sam Dower added 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Gonzaga took just 41 shots, but made 25 of them for a stellar 61 percent field goal percentage on the night, and the Bulldogs shot 27 free throws, taking advantage of 20 Broncos fouls.

While Gonzaga's bigs dominated Santa Clara, the Broncos' perimeter players bombed away in their losing effort: Evan Roguemore, Raymond Cowels, Denzel Johnson and Brandon Clark combined to take all but seven of Santa Clara's shots and score 54 of the Santa Clara's 62 points.

A 6-0 Santa Clara run early in the second half brought the Broncos to within two points of the lead, but Gonzaga responded with a 7-0 run of its own and was never truly threatened again.

The Duke Blue Devils are making a habit of coming back in the second half of their recent games. A week after using a late rally to take down North Carolina, Duke surged back from a 20 point deficit in the second half against N.C. State to get a 78-73 victory over the Wolfpack at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Seth Curry led the Blue Devils with 26 points and Austin Rivers was the only other Blue Devil in double figures with 16 points. But Curry had 16 of those points in Duke's 37-12 run over the game's final 11 minutes, and the Duke defense limited the Wolfpack to just four field goals in that stretch, erasing N.C. State's 20-point lead and giving Duke its final five point margin of victory.

Mason Plumlee had nine points and 10 rebounds for Duke, which committed just five turnovers on the night.

The Wolfpack's collapse wasted great nights from C.J. Leslie, who had 12 points, nine rebounds and six blocks, and Lorenzo Brown, who scored 19 points and added six rebounds and five assists. After forfeiting the lead, the Wolfpack had a chance to tie the game with just a few seconds remaining, but a disjointed offensive set resulted in Brown missing a three.

With the win, Duke remains tied for first place in the ACC with Florida State.

For more on Duke, visit Duke Basketball Report. For more on N.C. State, visit Backing The Pack.

Junior guard Michael Snaer's three-pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining gave the No. 20 Florida St. Seminoles a 48-47 win, avoiding a loss at home to the Virginia Tech Hokies on Thursday night.

With the win, the Seminoles improved to 18-7 overall and 9-2 in the ACC, good for a first-place tie in the league. Florida State will face the N.C. State Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon.

Guard Ian Miller was the lone Seminole in double-digits, scoring a team-high 11 points on four of 13 shooting. Snaer added nine points, with Jeff Peterson and Okaro White finishing with five points apiece. Florida State was an abysmal 1-8 from the free throw line.

The Hokies got 18 points on 7-15 shooting from guard Erick Green, who hit two of his three looks from beyond the arc. Forward Jarell Eddie added 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Virginia Tech fell to 14-12 overall and 3-8 in the ACC, with a home game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum .

For more on the Seminoles, visit Tomahawk Nation. For more on the Hokies, check out Gobbler Country.