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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The wait for Duke junior swingman Gerald Henderson to put together his formidable athletic skills in a complete-game effort is over.

Henderson scored a career-high 25 points, carrying the second-ranked Blue Devils to Saturday's 66-58 victory at Florida State.

"Henderson was a star for us," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "His athletic ability to create shots was huge."

Duke (14-1, 2-0) needed everything Henderson could muster in a matchup of the ACC's top two scoring defenses, which shaped up to be a prize fight from the start.

After scoring 14 of the Blue Devils' 19 first-half points, and jump-starting a 24-5 run to start the second, Henderson helped stave off the Seminoles' improbable rally from a 25-point deficit with just over 12 minutes to play.

"I just kind of felt weaknesses in the defense," said Henderson, who was 9-of-14 from the floor. "My ability to drive the basketball, get into the lane and make plays -- it was there. That's a strength to my game."

That was never more evident than over the final 5:31, after the Seminoles (13-3, 0-1) cut a 46-21 deficit to 51-42. Henderson scored six points and set up Nolan Smith for a pair of free throws over a three-minute stretch as the Blue Devils restored what proved to be an insurmountable, 13-point lead.

"He made us pay every time we made a defensive mistake on him," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said of Henderson. "He seemed to be in a rhythm offensively and we didn't do anything to deter him."

Henderson also contributed five rebounds and three steals to Duke's defensive effort, which held FSU to 31 percent from the floor.

"Just his presence was big today," Duke junior Kyle Singler said of Henderson.

Henderson drove for a layup, pulled up for a jumper in the lane and knocked down a 15-footer, allowing the Blue Devils to overcome 7-of-16 free-throw shooting down the stretch.

Outscored 41-11 from the 11-minute mark of the first half until the final 12:19, the Seminoles furiously rallied behind Toney Douglas, Uche Echefu and Derwin Kitchen.

Singler's 3-pointer with 12:43 remaining gave the Blue Devils a 46-21 lead, but nearly eight minutes passed before Krzyzewski's team scored its next basket.

"You almost got that lead too early," Krzyzewski said. "You could see our guys got worn down."

Douglas scored nine of his 18 points, while Kitchen (16 points) and Echefu (10) had six apiece in a 21-5 run that pulled the Seminoles within 51-42.

Florida State got within six in the waning seconds, but came up short of a third win in its last four meetings with Duke.

Ultimately, the game turned on the Blue Devils' overwhelming surge to start the second half. Duke used a 9-0 run to turn a five-point halftime lead to a 28-14 cushion against the much larger Seminoles.

"When you go against height and a bigger team, you have to use your quickness," Henderson said. "It started on the defensive end. We made some plays on defense that really got us going and we were rolling there for a bit in the beginning of the second half."

Singler finished with 15 points and Smith added 12 for the Blue Devils, who won for the third time in six days.

DUKE (14-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Singler 34 5-10 3-6 2-5 0 4 15

Zoubek 14 0-1 2-2 2-3 1 1 2

Smith 29 3-6 6-6 1-4 1 2 12

Henderson 34 9-14 4-6 1-5 0 0 25

Scheyer 38 1-7 7-11 1-2 3 0 9

Paulus 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

McClure 15 0-0 1-4 2-6 1 2 1

Williams 7 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 1 1

Thomas 23 0-2 1-2 0-3 0 4 1

Totals 200 18-42 25-39 9-34 6 14 66

Percentages: FG .429, FT .641.

3-Point Goals: 5-12, .417 (Henderson 3-4, Singler 2-4, Williams 0-1, Smith 0-1, Scheyer 0-2).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked Shots: 4 (McClure, Williams, Singler, Zoubek).

Turnovers: 17 (Smith 7, Scheyer 3, Singler 3, McClure 2, Zoubek, Henderson).

Steals: 6 (Henderson 3, Smith 2, Scheyer).

Technical Fouls: None.

FLORIDA ST. (13-3)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Singleton 34 3-8 0-2 3-3 0 5 6

Reid 22 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Alabi 16 2-6 0-0 6-9 0 0 4

DeMercy 15 1-8 0-0 2-4 2 4 2

Douglas 38 7-23 2-2 1-4 0 5 18

Gibson 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Loucks 7 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 2 0

Dulkys 13 0-1 0-0 2-2 3 2 0

Hoff 1 1-1 0-0 1-3 0 0 2

Kitchen 31 6-15 3-4 1-5 2 1 16

Echefu 21 2-4 6-6 3-6 0 4 10

Totals 200 22-71 11-14 23-43 7 24 58

Percentages: FG .310, FT .786.

3-Point Goals: 3-17, .176 (Douglas 2-6, Kitchen 1-4, Dulkys 0-1, Echefu 0-1, DeMercy 0-2, Singleton 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 3.

Blocked Shots: 2 (Singleton, Alabi).

Turnovers: 14 (Douglas 5, Loucks 2, Echefu 2, Singleton 2, Alabi, Kitchen, DeMercy).

Steals: 12 (Kitchen 5, Douglas 2, Singleton 2, Dulkys 2, DeMercy).

Technical Fouls: None.

Duke 19 47 -- 66

Florida St. 14 44 -- 58

A--12,100. Officials--Mike Wood, Sean Hull, Raymond Styons.