Cal Puts an End to Duke’s Reign With 82-77 Win

Nearly a decade of Duke dominance is over.

Jason Kidd and the rest of the California basketball team saw to that by upsetting the two-time defending national champions, 82-77, Saturday in the second round of the Midwest Regional.

While the Bears made the round of 16 for the first time since 1960, Duke failed to advance that far for the first time in eight years.

The Blue Devils (24-8) had been in the previous five Final Fours and six of the last seven. Before Saturday, Mike Krzyzewski had coached them to a 33-5 tournament record since 1986, including 18-1 in the 1990s.

Cal (21-8), which has won 11 of 12 games under the positive reinforcement of 29-year-old coach Todd Bozeman, will meet Kansas (27-6) in St. Louis on Thursday in the regional semifinals.

Kidd, Cal’s phenomenal freshman, won a second consecutive game with a wild, one-handed layup.

Duke rallied from a 70-53 deficit to take a 77-76 lead with 2:21 to play. After neither team scored for more than a minute, Kidd tried to pass the ball inside and it was batted away.

But Kidd recovered the loose ball and, falling down after being fouled by Grant Hill, tossed a right-handed shot off the backboard and through the net. Kidd made the free throw for a 79-77 Cal lead.

Kidd, who had 11 points and 14 assists, added another free throw, and Lamond Murray, who scored 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting, hit two foul shots to seal Ca’s eighth consecutive victory and hand Duke its first tournament loss since the 1990 final against Nevada Las Vegas.

In the opening-round game last Thursday, it was Kidd who beat Louisiana State with a high-banking layup with one second to play. LSU Coach Dale Brown, however, said the sixth-seeded Bears had no chance to beat the third-seeded, 10th-ranked Blue Devils and that Kidd would be no match for Bobby Hurley, Duke’s All-American point guard.

Hurley, whose only previous tournament loss was the 1990 title game when he was a freshman, capped his impressive career with a personal-best 32 points.