SAN ANTONIO (WNCN) — Duke’s dominant season came to an end Saturday night after a late-game collapse in the Final Four against the top defense in the country.
Duke, the No. 1 seed out of the East Region, lost to the Houston Cougars, the top seed in the Midwest Region, 70-67 Saturday night in the second Final Four game in San Antonio.
The Big 12 champion Cougars staged a monumental comeback with just minutes left in the contest, led by guard Emanuel Sharp’s late scoring surge. Sharp scored nine of his 16 points with less than three minutes left in the game, including a three-pointer with 33 seconds left to go that cut Houston’s deficit to 67-64.
On the next possession, Mylik Wilson stole the ball from Duke’s Sion James but missed a three-pointer. But the Cougars once again cleaned up on the offensive glass — an area where they outplayed Duke all night — and Joseph Tugler’s tip-in made the game 67-66 Duke with 25 seconds to go.
Veteran Duke guard Tyrese Proctor was then fouled with 20 seconds to go, but missed the first free throw of a one-and-one. Houston’s J’Wan Roberts grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled by Cooper Flagg. Roberts — who shoots less than 63% from the charity stripe on the season — then sank two free throws to give the Cougars a 68-67 lead with 19 seconds left. Two more made free throws from L.J. Cryer, Houston’s leading scorer, with three seconds to go effectively sealed the game and completed the comeback for the Cougars.
Despite the loss, Flagg, who on Friday was named the AP Player of the Year and on Saturday won the John R. Wooden Award, proved why he’s collecting all the national player of the year awards. The freshman phenom filled the stat sheet with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals against Houston. But Flagg missed a jumper with eight seconds left that could’ve won it for the Blue Devils.
Cryer, the Cougars’ star player, finished with 26 points and five rebounds. J’Wan Roberts recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Aside from Flagg, who is widely expected to be the top pick in this year’s NBA Draft, fellow freshman Kon Knueppel was the only other Blue Devil to score in double figures. He finished with 16 points — 12 of which came in the first half — and seven rebounds for the Atlantic Coast Conference champions, who entered the Final Four on a 16-game winning streak.
Duke looked in control for the better part of 40 minutes, leading from the 14:42 mark of the first half until the final seconds of the game. But they looked gassed down the stretch, making uncharacteristic mistakes and losing what had been as much as a 14-point lead.
The Cougars avenged a loss to the Blue Devils one year ago in this tournament. In last season’s Sweet 16, fourth-seeded Duke won a low-scoring 54-51 game to oust Houston, then the top seed in the South Region.
After this year’s comeback win, Houston will now face Florida in the national championship game Monday night. The Gators beat No. 1 overall seed Auburn 79-73 in the first Final Four game earlier Saturday night.