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No. 1 Duke upset by unranked Stephen F. Austin at the buzzer in overtime

No 1 Duke upset by unranked Stephen F Austin at the buzzer in overtime
No. 1 Duke was upset by unranked Stephen F. Austin in overtime handing the Blue Devils their first loss of the season.

Stephen F. Austin just crushed it at Cameron.

Just a few weeks after Evansville stunned then-No. 2 Kentucky (and the college hoops world) with a victory on the road in Rupp Arena, the Lumberjacks of the Southland Conference went into Cameron Indoor Stadium and upended the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils 85-83in overtime.

The loss was the first for Duke, which now falls to 6-1 on the season.

But the win was the biggest in the history of the Lumberjacks.

And it all came down to the wire. Duke seemed to be in the process of holding for the last shot of overtime, but a turnover under the basket quickly turned into a fast break for S.F. Austin.

Nathan Bain received a pass at Duke's three-point line and sprinted down the court as the clock drained. Instead of calling a quick timeout and setting something up, he raced for the layup and released the ball with under a second remaining.

It fell through the net and the Lumberjacks bench erupted in jubilation under the basket.

“I saw my teammate grab it and I looked up at the clock. We had about 2.6 seconds left and I said, ‘I’ve got to get up on my horse,' " Bain said after the win. “I’m just going as fast as I can and tried to lay it up. It’s like a layup drill. I could feel a dude on my back so I just laid it up and just prayed it’d go in."

The loss for Duke also snapped the Blue Devils' 150-game non-conference home winning streak.

Stephen F. Austin forward Nathan Bain drives for the game-winning basket over Duke forward Jack White.

"We've got a bunch of new guys and we try to fight. Just that 'next man up' like they talk about the NFL ... It was a fun night," S.F. Austin coach Kyle Keller said. "I learned a lot about my team today, for sure."

S.F. Austinmoves to 5-1 on the season behind a game-high 26 points from Kevon Harris. Gavin Kensmil added 15 points for the Lumberjacks, who have played in four of the last five NCAA tournaments as the Southland conference champion.

Last season, S.F. Austin entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 14 seed but lost to eventual national runner-up Texas Tech.

Duke had four players in double figures, led by Vernon Carey Jr.’s 20 points. Tre Jones added 17 points and 12 assists, but the sophomore was plagued by eight turnovers. Many of the Lumberjacks were in foul trouble.

“We don’t care who plays," Keller said. "We just try to be a true team. ... We’ve been battling the flu. We actually practiced pretty terrible this week and I told my wife today, ‘I hope we continue to fight.’ "

Bainis from the Bahamas, and hisfamily lost their house, plus the church where his father is a minister was heavily damagedwhen Hurricane Dorian hit there in September.

"My family lost a whole lot this year," he said."I’m just playing this game for them, my family back home in the Bahamas. I just want to make my country proud."

Lumberjacks guard Kevon Harris and forward Charlie Daniels react after defeating the Blue Devils.
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