St.John’s83Duke82DURHAM, N.C. — For those who believe a sequel can’t live up to the original, we give you Duke-St. John’s II.

A little more than one year after the Blue Devils and Red Storm produced the greatest regular season game of the season, the two legendary programs met in the Hollywood of basketball arenas, Cameron Indoor Stadium, where another epic unfolded.

Like Rocky II, St. John’s won the rematch, 83-82. Last season, Duke prevailed in overtime at the Garden 92-88.

“It is amazing,” said St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis. “Last year was so different because no one expected it. This year it’s amazing. This almost reminds me of a Broadway hit. You know, people came to this game, expecting a great game and I told some people, ‘Don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t come close to last year. And then with about four minutes to go in the game, I leaned over to my son [Mike Jarvis Jr.] and I said, ‘This is incredible. I just can’t believe we’re having another game like tonight.'”

“What we probably should do, we probably should cancel the series and never play each other again, and just sell these tapes,” continued Jarvis.

Imagine the royalties! This was the Titanic of college basketball. The fourth and fifth all-time winningest programs displaying class, grit and dazzling performance on national TV.

The final wrap came only after Duke’s Chris Carrawell forced his way through two St. John’s defenders with five seconds left and had his shot clang off the back of the rim. The horn sounded as Shane Battier’s rebound fling fell harmlessly to the floor.

“That was the longest five seconds of my life,” said Bootsy Thornton, who after toasting Duke for 40 last season, burned them for 22, on 4-of-6 shooting on 3’s, and 11 rebounds.

A small group of St. John’s fans stormed the court as Cameron fell silent as Duke (21-4), ranked fourth by The Post had just suffered its first lost to an unranked team in 64 games. Jarvis shook hands with his good friend, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Then he shook hands with Lou Carnesecca, the man responsible for bringing him to St. John’s, which improved to 20-6, its third straight 20-win season.

Erick Barkley was hugged at midcourt by Battier, the classy Duke junior who posted an electronic message on the Duke basketball website asking the Cameron Crazies not to taunt the Red Storm’s sophomore point guard about his NCAA troubles.

There were no taunts. The game was too great. The players too clutch. The action too riveting.

All 10 starters finished in double figures. There were 10 lead changes and four ties — in the second half alone. There were monsters runs, such as Duke’s 17-2 blitz in the first half and the Red Storm’s 15-3 counter in the second.

St. John’s shot 49.3 percent for the game. Duke shot 49.2.

There were gutty efforts, such as Barkley, playing in agony for most of the second half after cramping up less than three minutes in scoring 14 points with eight assists and three steals. There was Duke’s Nate James, playing with a badly sprained ankle, scoring 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

“Well, it was kinda like what I expected,” said Krzyzewski. “They are a very difficult team to play against. They have veterans. They can handle the ball. They shoot the ball so well. They make a lot of basketball plays and you have to be on top of your game all the time when you are playing them.”

The same can be said of Duke, which is why the game came down to the final 3:32, after Duke capped a 9-0 run to take a 79-75 lead. Anthony Glover responded with a power move in the lane.

Barkley picked up a loose ball and found Thornton for a tying layup. Chudney Gray starred into a sea of crazies and drained two free throws for an 81-79 lead.

Duke answered with a trey from the right corner from James with 43 seconds left. St. John’s set a play for Barkley who forced a drive that was deflected by Battier. The ball came Thornton in the right corner. His jumper, from just inside the arc, found the bottom of the net.

The win completes an unfathomable sweep by the Red Storm, beating Syracuse, Connecticut and Duke in one week. The Huskies and Blue Devils in last year’s title game, an achievement not lost on the Red Storm.

“We just went down in history right now,” said Barkley.

History, at least when Duke and St. John’s meets, tends to repeat itself with an encore performance.