Devils use D to win title

Published 11:43 pm Monday, April 5, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS — Butler proved to Duke that it was no David against Goliath, as many tried to make the pregame angle to Monday night’s scintillating national championship contest.

The Bulldogs relentlessly battled the Blue Devils on every possession, fought them on the boards despite a height disadvantage, and mustered extra energy from the decidedly partisan crowd of 70,930 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But Duke, showing some grit of its own despite scoring only one point in the final 3 minutes, 16 seconds, dug in and survived, winning its fourth national championship in the Mike Krzyzewski era with a 61-59 victory over the gritty Bulldogs.

The key plays down the stretch for the Blue Devils (35-5) were provided by 7-foot-1 senior center Brian Zoubek. Zoubek defended the Bulldogs’ last good shot, a 10-foot baseline jumper by Gordon Hayward. He also grabbed the rebound and sank a final free throw with 3.6 seconds to play.

“I knew if I played good defense and got my hand up in his face, my length would bother him a little bit,” Zoubek said while clutching the national championship trophy.

“He had to shoot a fadeaway jump shot, fading away to the baseline. That’s a hard shot. If it had gone through, I wouldn’t have had any regrets about how I played the play.”

Zoubek, who played the final 9:08 with four fouls, said he was determined to grab the rebound because “I was upset. I had two opportunities to grab one offensive rebound and one defensive rebound that could have sealed the game early. So I knew I had to make a play.”

After Zoubek hit the first free throw, Krzyzewski had him miss the second. The Bulldogs (33-5) got the rebound and Hayward dribbled to midcourt before letting fly on a 50-foot shot that got the backboard and the rim, but failed to go in.

Hayward, who scored 12 points but shot just 2 of 11 from the floor, said he felt the 10-footer looked good when it left his hand. As for the desperation shot, he said, “It was a last-second shot. I don’t know. It missed.”

It was defense that carried the Blue Devils to their first national championship since 2002. In snapping Butler’s 25-game winning streak, they limited the underdogs to 34.5 percent shooting from the field. Butler went a stretch of 7:47 of the second half without a field goal.

“It was just a great basketball game, a classic,” Krzyzewski said. “Both teams played so hard and so great. I thought we won it with our defense and rebounding.

“It’s hard to believe we’re national champions. The kids stuck with it. They were criticized some. It’s difficult sometimes to be a Duke basketball player. But these guys were tough. They got bumped and bruised but we played hard and we’re national champions.”

The Blue Devils controlled the boards in the second half after being outrebounded by 24-17 and giving up 12 offensive rebounds. The Bulldogs used a 10-3 edge in second-chance points to trail by 33-32 at the half, but Duke actually finished the game with a 37-35 edge on the boards.

Zoubek, who began celebrating his 22nd birthday at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, contributed eight points and 10 rebounds to the victory. His coach praised him and fellow senior Lance Thomas afterward.

“These are kids who have been through a lot,” Krzyzewski said. “They’ve became really good men, really good players. They were the heart of our team. They never got the credit they deserve but you don’t give a stat for heart. Lance and Brian provided that for us all year.”

Kyle Singler, who led Duke with 19 points, hit a three-point shot with just over 13 minutes to play to give the Blue Devils the lead for good at 45-43. But it was far from a comfortable lead, even with Butler having trouble buying a basket.

When the Bulldogs finally got one — a layup by Matt Howard, who had recovered from a mild concussion he suffered Saturday night — with 1:43 to play, the Bulldogs were down by only three, 60-57.

Howard sank another layup off an offensive rebound to make it a one-point game with 54.8 seconds remaining. After Singler’s jumper grazed the front rim and Zoubek lost the rebound out of bounds, the Bulldogs got the ball back with 33.7 seconds left, with a chance at victory.

They worked the ball around before calling a time-out with 13.6 seconds left and got the ball into the hands of Hayward, who missed then, then missed the shot from half-court that would have been one for the ages.

“I was right there watching it come down, it was like slow-mo,” Zoubek said. “It was a good shot and it almost went in. It would have been heartbreaking, I’ll tell you that.

“It’s unbelievable to win — my senior year, last game, my birthday. What more can you ask for?”