Jeff Borzello
San Antonio – The final match of the Final Four on Saturday between Duke and Houston seemed to be another stop of the Blue Devils walk in a national championship, just another prelude to the Cooper Flagg and the imminent Duke Coronation.
After a franc lance of Tyrese Proctor put Duke at 14 points with 8:17 to do in the second half, the inevitable seemed closer than ever. But Houston remained faithful to his culture – defense, tenacity and offensive rebound – to return the game and delay Duke, 70-67.
“I hear what people say. Duke this, Duke that. Duke’s Great. (Coach) Jon Scheyer is great,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, in his post-match interview on CBS. “But don’t sleep in Houston. We were not 34-4 to play in the League of Poodle Toy.”
The cougars (35-4) made a 9-0 race in the last 35 seconds, taking the lead on two free throws Jewan Roberts with 19 seconds to play, then freezing the game with two free throws LJ Cryer with 3.7 seconds to do. Flagg failed on a reversal jumper on the following possession, and the despair of Proctor 3 points in the buzzer was long.
“It was a magic race,” said Scheyer in his post-match CBS interview, just outside the Duke wardrobe. “We believe, with everything we had, that we were going to win a championship here. So, I’m just … I feel for them, because they are competitive. … and I didn’t help them.”
Houston’s push, in fact, can be reported to the 11:54 brand, when Flagg hit two free throws to put Duke 56-42. The cougars took over from there and closed the match in a 28-11 race to finish the return. According to ESPN Research, Duke (35-4) pulled only 2 out of 11 from the ground during this trunction with five reversals.
Cryer paved the way with 26 points and six 3 points, while the final university game of Flagg presented a performance of 27 points, 7 reimburses and 4-assistants in a losing effort. All in all, Duke led 34:55 of the match, while Cougars led for only 3:43.
Houston went to the national championship match on Monday to face the Florida, which beat Auburn 79-73 earlier on Saturday at Alamodome. The cougars reached the match for the title twice before, in 1983 and 1984, but have not yet won a national title.
