Duke escapes, 71-70, over tiny Belmont

WASHINGTON -- There it was, plain as could be on the overhead scoreboard: As the closing seconds ticked away Thursday night, Belmont was beating Duke.

Read that again, slowly: No. 15-seeded Belmont was beating No. 2 Duke. Belmont, the Atlantic Sun Conference school with zero NCAA tournament wins to its credit, was leading Duke, the Atlantic Coast Conference school with three national championships on its resume.

And yet it was not to be.

Using every last one of Gerald Henderson’s 21 points, including the go-ahead basket with 11.9 seconds left, and one key steal by DeMarcus Nelson, Duke (28-5) barely avoided what would have been a monumental upset, edging Belmont, 71-70, in the first round of the West Regional.

“We wouldn’t be human if it didn’t,” Duke guard Jon Scheyer said when asked if the team thought an upset was possible. “We knew the situation. There was so much pressure on us. Pressure to win. Ninety percent of the building wanted us to lose.”

Duke led, 69-65, with 2:40 left before Andy Wicke’s three-point basket cut it to one. And after a Duke miss, Justin Hare grabbed the rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to put Belmont (25-9) ahead, 70-69.

Yet, Belmont would not score again, with Henderson’s driving basket erasing the Bruins’ final lead.

Alex Renfroe had 15 points for Belmont.

“Watching them on tape, they looked really good,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who extended his record to 69 tournament victories. “Watching them in person, they’re even better.”