Duke Avoids Upset by Belmont, Advances to Dance on Saturday

Gerald Henderson put up 21 pts, including the go-ahead basket with 11.9 seconds left, that coupled with one key steal by DeMarcus Nelson and 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!'"

Yes, it occurred to the Blue Devils, too, that the seemingly impossible might somehow suddenly be possible.

"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 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's Coach K, 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 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.

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.

Mr. Henderson and Duke said NO, we will not go home today....