Duke Rallies Past Notre Dame, 75-69

His layup try was off, but V.J. Beachem followed it with a putback dunk.

Matt Farrell has always been about the championships. Steve Vasturia was next, grimacing and massaging his side.

Colson said he would be back to 100 percent before then.

When the Bridgewater native was playing for Point Beach High School, the Garnet Gulls won their first-ever Shore Conference Tournament title and NJSIAA Group I state championship during his career.

“Right now it’s best for me to stay away from my players because I’m ready to jump off the top of the building”, Williams said. Not for these guys. It was Jones’ only basket of the game on two attempts.

While the Seminoles won’t know their full tournament fate until Sunday’s selection show (CBS, 5:30 p.m.), they at least have a good idea of where they’ll be headed.

But that all changed when the Blue Devils arrived in Brooklyn, New York.

Duke had to come back from double-digit second-half deficits against Louisville and North Carolina the previous two nights and found themselves down once again, by eight with about 11 minutes to play. I hate being remiss, which is what I would certainly be if we didn’t revisit the post I wrote earlier this week on Winston-Salem’s very own Harry Giles.

This one – this championship – was going to turn on game situations.

According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Blue Devils are 4-point favorites versus the Fighting Irish while the over/under now sits at 152 points. Who would find a way to finish?

“I told them they need to do what they need to do to win a championship”, Krzyzewski said. “They hit big shots”. But we had to take it one day at a time. “But after timeouts, we huddled and we were strong”. By the time I got up to the Mouth of Wilson, Va., he was hurt and sidelined for the season. That could wait until summer. By all accounts, this Duke season has been disjointed, and at so many points in January and February it seemed destined for disappointment.

Mike Brey was down on one knee screaming.

Brey: “We needed a couple of those (3-pointers) to go down to escape … We missed some open ones”. Almost 87 percent of Ryan’s shots come from beyond the arc.

Many observers believed Carolina had kicked it into a special postseason gear over the past week, but the Tar Heels were outscored 51-34 in the second half. The Tigers, who took a 2-0 series lead, improved to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the ACC thanks to their fifth victory in a row. Unfortunately that proved true as Notre Dame just couldn’t match the size and athleticism of Duke.

The Irish were starting to feel it. Sense it. Smell it. And with a healthy squad and healthy coach, Duke went 10-3 in its final 13 games, a run that included a road win at Virginia, plus home wins vs. Krzyzewski said. “We’re OK with whatever seed”. So we realize we’re a pretty good basketball team. “We’ve done that in each of the last three games but not as long as (Saturday)”.

The Irish led by eight with 11:35 to go following another Beachem dunk. “Now was my focus”, Colson said. “We’ve got to move on quick”. He scored all 10 of his second-half points in a six-minute stretch against the Cardinals, and he had four 3-pointers in the first half against UNC to even make a comeback possible.

Colson was forced to leave the game after coming down hard on his ankle with the Irish holding a 58-55 lead and 8:06 to play. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings. “We played them great”.

Notre Dame couldn’t recover from there, and when the Blue Devils’ Matt Jones, who’s been in an terrible shooting slump (he’d gone 132 game minutes without a field goal), drilled a 3-pointer from the right side with 48 seconds left to put Duke up 71-67, it was the exclamation point on the victory.

Notre Dame was slotted as a No. 4 seed. The Blue Devils beat the Irish 75-69 to capture their first ACC crown since 2011. Notre Dame could reach the Final Four.

It was an enormous showing from freshman Jayson Tatum over the course of four days, as he led the way on Saturday with 19 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Devils. Totals 27-67 9-12 69.

Notre Dame junior forward Bonzie Colson had perhaps his best game of the season, finishing with 29 points and nine rebounds.

Notre Dame looked rattled to start as Duke ran out to a 16-8 lead.