INDIANAPOLIS -- Duke won its fourth national championship Monday night, forcing Butler's Gordon Hayward to miss with 4 seconds left to hold off the Bulldogs 61-59 and end the tiny school's run at the title one game short of the perfect ending.
Kyle Singler had 19 for the Blue Devils and Brian Zoubek rebounded Hayward's miss and hit one free throw with 3.6 seconds left to give Duke a two-point lead.
Hayward rebounded Zoubek's intentional miss and threw up a desperation heave at the buzzer that hit glass, bounced off the rim and out.
The win gave Mike Krzyzewski his first national title since 2001 and fourth overall, tying him with Adolph Rupp for second on the all-time list.
MIAMI -- Udonis Haslem more than picked up the slack for struggling starter Michael Beasley.
Haslem scored 23 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Miami Heat rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Toronto Raptors 97-94 Sunday night."I'm all about winning," Haslem said.Dwyane Wade scored 32 points and also helped set up Haslem, who hit four open jumpers in the Heat's fourth-quarter comeback."Me and Dwyane have been together a long time and he has trust in me that if I am going to be open, I'm going to knock down the shots," Haslem said. "I just feel comfortable in those situations that I am going to knock down the shot."Now a reserve after starting the previous five seasons, Haslem took Beasley's place for the final 25:01 of the game. Beasley finished with two points and shot 1 of 10 from the field.Miami outscored Toronto 19-7 in the final 6:12, taking the lead for good at 91-89 on Carlos Arroyo's jumper with 59 seconds remaining. He made it a four-point game with two free throws with 22 seconds to play.Jarrett Jack hit a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to cut the Miami lead to 95-94, but Arroyo secured the Heat's fifth consecutive victory with two free throws with 1.4 seconds left."Even though we weren't in control of the game, we still felt we could be," Wade said. "We just knew that we had to fight all the way to the end."This is the kind of resolve this team is getting."Arroyo converted six free throws in the final 22 seconds for the Heat, in sixth place in the Eastern Conference."I had a lot of confidence with my free throws," Arroyo said. "In those situations, I knew one point was not enough. Getting the two free throws each time was important."Chris Bosh led Toronto with 19 points.The Raptors made 6-of-10 3-pointers in the third quarter, but then were only 6 of 20 from the field in the fourth period."We had a hard time getting open looks," Toronto coach Jay Triano said. "We would swing the ball and they would close out. They cranked it up in the fourth."Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon each hit two 3-pointers during a 16-5 run midway through the third quarter. Calderon's second came with 5:14 remaining, capping the spurt and giving the Raptors a 72-55 lead.Bargnani finished with 19 points and Calderon with 12. But Bargnani missed two open jumpers after the Heat took the lead in the fourth quarter."We had some open looks at the end and the ball just didn't want to go in," Calderon said.The Heat played without starting center Jermaine O'Neal, who sat out with a hyperextended right knee. O'Neal was injured in the first quarter of Miami's victory at Milwaukee on Friday night.Joel Anthony replaced O'Neal in the Miami starting lineup and shot 6 of 6 from the field for 13 points."I keep myself ready for whatever is going to happen," Anthony said. "I was just trying to do my job out there. Carlos and Dwyane did a real good job of finding me for some easy baskets."Jack scored 11 points in the second quarter, helping the Raptors build a 49-43 halftime lead after the Heat led 26-23 at the end of the first period."The best part about this win was the fact things were not going our way and in the first half we were not mentally strong," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We were able to grind it out all the way to the end and our two captains [Wade and Haslem] were simply tremendous."Game notes
The Heat and Raptors finished their season series 2-2. ... Jack jumped and tumbled over the Raptors' TV broadcast crew while chasing a loose ball in the second quarter. ... The comeback was Miami's biggest of the season, surpassing a 13-point deficit and win at Phoenix on Jan. 8. Although Hedo Turkoglu was active, Triano decided against playing him. Turkoglu missed the last game with a stomach illness.
Miami, Fla. – Travis
Benjamin hauled in six catches for 171 yards and a touchdown and
quarterbacks Stephen
Morris and Spencer Whipple combined for 321 passing yards and three
TDs as the Hurricanes defeated Miami, 58-53, in the University of Miami
football team’s annual spring game Saturday at Traz Powell Stadium in
front of an estimated capacity crowd of 10,000.
"It was a good spring scrimmage, a lot of good things on both sides
of the ball," UM head coach Randy
Shannon said. "We had some turnovers the defense created, some big
runs. Travis (Benjamin) had a couple of big plays. The quarterbacks did a
nice job. It was what the spring game is supposed to be about, how much
fun you can go out and have."
Team Hurricanes were comprised of the second and third team offenses
and the first team, defense while Team Miami was comprised of the first
team offense and second and third team defenses. The offenses earned six
points for a touchdown, three points for a field goal, one point for an
extra point, one point for crossing the 50-yard line and one point for
every first down. The defenses earned one point for a three-and-out, two
points for an interception, two points for a fumble recovery and six
points for a touchdown.
Morris completed 12-of-21 passes for 209 yards, two touchdowns and
one interception. Whipple went 7-of-16 for 112 yards and one touchdown. A.J.
Highsmith quarterbacked Miami and went 11-of-20 for 131 yards with
three touchdowns and two interceptions. Kendal
Thompkins caught a game-high eight passes for 84 yards and one
touchdown for the Hurricanes. Leonard
Hankerson had three receptions for 61 yards and two touchdowns.
Linebacker Sean
Spence led the Hurricanes with eight tackles. Vaughn
Telemaque added six tackles for the Hurricanes. Brandon
McGee had seven tackles and two pass breakups for Miami while
Safety Ray
Ray Armstrong intercepted two passes.
Highsmith led Miami on the first two touchdown scoring drives. He
connected with Hankerson on a 16-yard touchdown. Highsmith hit Davon
Johnson for a three-yard score as Miami led, 22-10. Morris guided the
Hurricanes on its first scoring drive. He hooked up with Benjamin for a
75-yard touchdown pass. Lamar
Miller scored on a two-yard touchdown run.
Highsmith and Hankerson hooked up again for a 39-yard touchdown pass.
Whipple answered for the Hurricanes with a nine-yard strike to Davon
Johnson. Morris and Thompkins connected for a five-yard TD. Damien
Berry’s 26-yard touchdown run put Miami back ahead.
With Miami leading 52-50 late in the fourth quarter, Morris led the
Hurricanes on a scoring drive which included picking up points with
first downs and ended on Jake Wieclaw’s 33-yard field goal to end the
game for the 58-53 final. Linebacker Sean
Spence
On play of offensive players: Travis
Benjamin, LaRon
Byrd, Kendal
Thompkins, I think all those guys had a big day for us.
On the progress of the quarterbacks with the absence of Jacory
Harris:
Throughout the spring, AJ, Stephen, Spencer, they
improved a lot and I’m really proud of those guys.
On progress throughout the spring and showing that at the Spring
Game:
I think we improved every week. Effort wise, everyone was
accountable, and knew their assignments on both sides of the ball. Wide Receiver Travis
Benjamin
On the performance of the receivers:
Everybody
thinks that receivers are on the down side, but we came out and told
them we’re gonna compete in this game. Then we had team A and team B, so
everybody was competing and they were just challenging us to get more
yards.
On 75-yard touchdown pass where Jamal
Reid almost caught him:
Jamal Reid’s pretty fast. I didn’t see
him from the angle he was coming at, so I kind of picked it up a little
bit when I saw him. Wide Receiver Leonard
Hankerson
On improvements of wide receivers over the
spring:
We improved a whole lot, from working together, getting in
the film room, staying after practice, running routes, competing with
each other. We stepped it up a level this year trying to take it to the
next level.
On most improved receiver:
We all improved. We’ve all been working
hard with each other. We’ve been doing what we have to do, coming
before practice, staying after practice and just working with each
other, communicating, everything. Defensive Back Vaughn
Telemaque
On trying to cover Travis
Benjamin: Travis
Benjamin is really explosive out there, and he can make a move or a
cut at any second, and it’s a big play out there. You get a nice little
hit on him, let him know you’re there, that’s the way to wake him up,
but Travis is out there competing just like the rest of the receivers.
On what impressed him the most from the scrimmage:
We had a lot of
guys stepping up out there. My counterpart, Ray
Ray Armstrong, he came up big with two interceptions, which really
set the tone for us, and freshmen off the line just making big plays on
offense and defense. We’ve got a lot to get excited for, and that’s the
point of the spring, to get up that momentum to carry into the fall.
That’s what we’re doing, looking for enough for us to go all the way,
that’s the plan.
On chemistry with Ray
Ray Armstrong:
We’re getting more comfortable with each other,
complimenting each other, just having fun out there, and playing fast.
That’s what I was trying to tell everyone out here, that as long as
we’re having fun, big things will happen, and that’s what happened
today. Hurricanes 58, Miami 53
(Hurricanes – 1st Team
Defense, 2nd & 3rd Team Offense; Miami – 1st Team Offense, 2nd &
3rd Team Defense) Attendance: Estimated capacity
crowd of 10,000 at Traz Powell Stadium
