CHAPEL HILL Right about the time the Smith Center crowd was mouthing “O’er the ramparts we watched,” 700 miles away, Jordan Daniels was sinking the free throw that changed what the game would mean entirely.

What had looked at the start of the day as a chance for North Carolina or Duke to establish itself as the main contender to Florida State was now a chance to take control of the ACC, after Daniels and Boston College upset the Seminoles earlier Wednesday night.

Whether the teams in Chapel Hill knew what was on the line or not, they played like it, right down to Austin Rivers’ 24-footer over an outstretched Tyler Zeller to clinch an 85-84 Duke win that not only secured its place in rivalry history but turned the ACC standings upside down.

Rivers started out in charge, Tyler Zeller took over next, Harrison Barnes blew open the game in the second half and Kendall Marshall closed it out. There was even a flaring of tensions as Reggie Bullock loomed over a fallen Rivers, too close for Rivers’ comfort.

The first half might have been the best half of basketball the ACC has seen in a while, up and down the court with furious aggression, and without question the loudest the Smith Center has been in years.

North Carolina pressed its advantage inside. Duke fired away from 3-point range, doing exactly what N.C. State didn’t even try to do against the Tar Heels two weeks ago.

The second half turned out even better. Barnes staked North Carolina to a 13-point lead, only to watch it dwindle as the Tar Heels struggled at the free throw line down the stretch.

Zeller’s final miss, with 13.9 seconds to play, left the door open for Rivers to put his personal stamp on this rivalry.

And now Duke, with one game still to play against Florida State, controls its own destiny. There are three teams with two ACC losses, and the regular-season title may just come down to the game between the Seminoles and Blue Devils in Tallahassee.

North Carolina, meanwhile, needs help, and lots of it. The Tar Heels’ only meeting with Florida State was a 33-point loss, and even if North Carolina can win the rematch with Duke on March 3, there’s no guarantee the Seminoles haven’t beaten them to the wire by then.

This isn’t why Zeller and John Henson and Barnes passed on the NBA, to be looking up at Florida State and Duke in the standings, but they ran into Duke on a night the Blue Devils were intent on making a statement of their own – and after just about everyone in the Smith Center had left them for dead.

Barnes took over the second half, but Rivers never let the Devils fall too far behind.

That 13-point lead was short-lived, but the Tar Heels still led by 10 with three minutes to play. But Tyler Thornton hit a 3-pointer, Seth Curry hit another, Ryan Kelly hit a jump shot, and Zeller tipped a way-off Kelly 3-pointer into the net.

That brought Duke within one, and Zeller could only make one from the free-throw line.

As Florida State prepared to take off outside Boston, the Tar Heels were still holding what appeared to be a secure lead.

By the time Rivers was launching that 3-pointer, the Seminoles were on their way home, somewhere over Connecticut, on their way up to 36,000 feet, with no idea how the ACC race had changed once their wheels left the ground and Rivers’ shot left his hands.