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		Duke survives Butler, wins fourth NCAA championship By Morris Phillips April 5, 2010

	As if in a mile-long footrace, Duke found Butler hot on their heels at every turn around the track. And with every turn, Butler’s hometown crowd howled encouragement as if they could help the Bulldogs make up the few lengths separating them from the Blue Devils. In the end, it almost worked. When Gordon Hayward’s halfcourt heave at the final buzzer clanged loudly off the front of the rim, Duke survived. For Butler, the result took several minutes to take hold. The Bulldogs, 61-59 losers, had to settle for second place, and the end of their 25-game win streak. “We just came up a bounce short,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. Butler had two chances to win it: first with Hayward’s off-balance 15-footer from the baseline with less than five seconds remaining, and then again with the Hail Mary heave at the buzzer. The small school from down the street came that close. “They weren’t going to go way,” Duke’s Kyle Singler said. “We needed every last minute of that game to get this win. It was a great game.” Duke claimed their fourth NCAA championship under Coach Mike Krzyzewski by playing sticky defense, and protecting the slimmest of leads with all their heart. Duke never led by more than six points, and down the stretch a two point lead was about as comfortable as they could get. While Butler went 7:49 down the stretch without a field goal, and shot just 34.5 percent for the game, they relied on defense just as sticky as Duke’s. When Matt Howard broke the field goal drought with just 1:42 remaining, the Bulldogs were still in it, trailing 60-57. On Butler’s ensuing possession, the Bulldogs got a critical offensive rebound, followed by another layup from Howard to get within 60-59 with 54 seconds remaining. But that all Duke would allow. Hayward’s two misses, sandwiched around Brian Zoubek’s free throw for Duke, were as close as Butler got to a “Hooisers” ending. Duke was led by Singler, who put up 19 points and 9 rebounds and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Duke’s other big guns, John Scheyer and Nolan Smith contributed 15 and 13 points respectively. The Blue Devils captured their first championship since 2001, and they did it without any surefire NBA stars as they did in the past. This time they relied on their experience upperclassmen starters, who scored all of Duke’s points and played 183 of a total 200 minutes. Surprisingly, Butler was the deeper, fresher team down the stretch, as they outscored Duke’s bench 15-0 and seemed to have an answer every time one of their guys succumbed to foul trouble.