Duke Avoids Historic Upset by 1 Point
By HOWARD FENDRICH,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-16 13:59:40
WASHINGTON (March 20) - There it was, plain as could be on the overhead scoreboard, orange numbering on a black background: As the closing seconds ticked away Thursday night, Belmont was beating Duke.
Win McNamee, Getty Images
March Madness
Gets Under Way
2. Duke 71, Belmont 70 | West Region
For a second straight year, the Blue Devils' opener comes down to the final seconds. This time, the opponent misses. Duke hits just six 3-pointers and avoids a last-second buzzer-beater. Details
Read that again, slowly: No. 15-seeded Belmont was beating No. 2 Duke. Belmont, the Atlantic Sun Conference school with zero NCAA tournament wins to its credit, was leading Duke, the Atlantic Coast Conference school with three national championships on its resume.
And yet it was not to be.
Using every last one of Gerald Henderson's 21 points, including the go-ahead basket with 11.9 seconds left, and one key steal by DeMarcus Nelson, Duke barely avoided what would have been a monumental upset, edging Belmont 71-70 in the first round of the West Regional.
"The last two or three minutes, I was sitting there thinking, 'We're really in this game.' We were so close to winning," Belmont's Henry Harris said. "There's a bit of amazement in your brain, just sitting there: 'Wow!"'
Teeny, tiny Belmont was long past wondering whether one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history was possible. Turns out, so was mighty, mighty Duke.
Yes, it occurred to the Blue Devils, too, that the seemingly impossible might somehow suddenly be possible.
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self poses with students in Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008. Self, who visited Boys Town before appearing at an Omaha sports banquet in the evening, said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA champions will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, center, jokes during a visit to Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008, as he stands near Boys Town Executive Director Steve Boes, left. said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA champions will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, left, takes questions from students during a visit to Boys Town, Neb., Wednesday, May 7, 2008. Self, who was in Omaha for a sports banquet, said he'll have no idea what the roster for the defending NCAA championship team will look like until after June's NBA draft. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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** FILE ** In this Jan. 9, 2008 file photo, LSU's Garrett Temple (14) knocks the ball away from Mississippi State's Ben Hansbrough, right, and Temple eventually ends up with the ball during the first half of a college basketball game in Baton Rouge, La. Hansbrough, who helped Mississippi State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament last month, is transferring to Notre Dame. (AP Photo/Bill Feig, File)
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Memphis head coach John Calipari smiles as he answers a question at a news conference at the college basketball Final Four in this April 6, 2008 file photo, in San Antonio. Calipari has signed a contract extension through the 2012-13 season that includes an annual raise of $500,000. Calipari will make $2.35 million per year and will receive a $5 million bonus if he stays through the end of the deal, athletic director R.C. Johnson announced Saturday, April 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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** FILE ** This March 27, 2008 file photo shows Texas guard D.J. Augustin (14) smiling during a news conference at the NCAA South Regional basketball tournament in Houston. All-American point guard D.J. Augustin says he is leaving Texas after two seasons to turn pro. He said Wednesday April 23, 2008 that he has long dreamed of playing in the NBA and that he is "ready to start living this dream." (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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** FILE ** In this March 22, 2008 file photo, Mississippi State guard Jamont Gordon responds to a question during a news conference at the NCAA men's basketball tournament South Regional in North Little Rock, Ark. Gordon has decided to turn pro but won't hire an agent before the NBA draft. Gordon told The Associated Press he planned to file the paperwork. In a phone interview Tuesday afternoon April 22, 2008, Gordon said he intends to go through with the draft if he remains injury free. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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** FILE ** In this March 23, 2008 file photo, Mississippi State guard Jamont Gordon (44) takes a shot as Memphis guard Antonio Anderson (5) defends in the first half of an NCAA men's basketball second-round South Regional game in North Little Rock, Ark. Gordon has decided to turn pro but won't hire an agent before the NBA draft. Gordon told The Associated Press he planned to file the paperwork. In a phone interview Tuesday afternoon April 22, 2008, Gordon said he intends to go through with the draft if he remains injury free. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
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** FILE ** This March 19, 2006 file photo shows Bucknell basketball coach Pat Flannery pleading with an official during the first half of their NCAA tournament second-round basketball game against Memphis in Dallas. Flannery is retiring after 14 years on the bench at his alma mater. A person at the university told The Associated Press of Flannery's retirement Friday morning, April 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam, File)
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** FILE ** Memphis coach John Calipari talks with Memphis freshman guard Derrick Rose (23) in the first half of the NCAA South Regional basketball final in Houston in this March 30, 2008 file photo, in Houston. Rose announced on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 he was jumping to the NBA, the same day Calipari agreed in principle to a contract extension with the school. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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"We wouldn't be human if it didn't," Duke guard Jon Scheyer said. "We knew the situation. There was so much pressure on us. Pressure to win. Ninety percent of the building wanted us to lose."
Instead, Duke (28-5) snapped a two-game tournament losing streak and advanced to face Arizona or West Virginia on Saturday.
It was much tougher than anyone could have expected beforehand, considering the pedigrees of the participants and this little tidbit: Only four times has a No. 15 defeated a No. 2 in the tournament.
But Belmont used a mix of backdoor cuts and headiness down the stretch to keep things close.
"Watching them on tape, they looked really good," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who extended his record to 69 career tournament victories. "Watching them in person, they're even better."
And so the Bruins (25-9) stayed in the game, repeatedly clawing back from deficits as large as 10 points.
Duke led 42-35 at halftime, an edge built at the foul line, where the Blue Devils were 11-for-15, and the Bruins were 2-for-4. Otherwise, in nearly every regard, Belmont played Duke even for those first 20 minutes. The field-goal stats were exactly the same: 14-for-29.
Duke pulled ahead 51-41 in the second half, but Belmont came back with a 9-0 run. Duke padded the margin again, but Belmont responded with an 8-0 spurt. Duke led 69-65 with 2:40 left, but Andy Wicke made a 3-pointer to cut it to one.
And after a Duke miss, Justin Hare grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to give Belmont the lead - the lead! - with 2:02 left in the game. It was 70-69, Belmont, right there for everyone to see, and the crowd was roaring.
"That was really the most exhilarating feeling that I've ever had coaching. That's when I thought we were going to go all the way," said Belmont coach Rick Byrd, whose team was routed by UCLA and Georgetown in its other NCAA appearances. "At first, you hope to be competitive. Then you hope, 'Don't beat us by 20.' And that never really happened. It became like a regular-season Atlantic Sun game, really."
Alas, on this night, on the verge of beating one of the sport's most storied programs, Belmont would not score again.
It would be Henderson's driving basket with 11.9 seconds left that erased Belmont's final lead.
Then, with Belmont inbounding the ball under its own basket, Alex Renfroe tried to throw a lob pass that was intercepted by ACC defensive player of the year Nelson. He missed at the line, Belmont got the rebound, and had one final chance to make history. The Bruins got the ball in safely this time, with 2.2 seconds left, and their leading scorer, Hare, got a good look at the basket from about 35 feet away.
"It felt good," Hare said later.
But the shot was a tad long. The ball bounced off the iron. Hare winced.
Duke, meanwhile, celebrated as though it had won far more than an opening-round game - something it actually failed to do a year ago, upset by Virginia Commonwealth.
Throughout Thursday, the teams' body language was telling at timeouts.
Belmont's players would be trailing, yet they skipped to the sideline and were met with high-fives, pats on the back and yells of encouragement. Duke's players, in the lead but hardly thrilled, trudged over slowly, some looking at the floor.
"We knew that on this night," Wicke said, "we could play with Duke."
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