By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SAN ANTONIO - It was a game in which Connecticut could have been blown out. Yet it is the Huskies, not Duke, that will play for a national championship Monday.

Duke forward Shavlik Randolph walks off the court after his team lost to Connecticut. (AP photo)

With All-American center Emeka Okafor stymied by foul trouble from the very beginning, Connecticut (32-6) did not figure to be much of a challenge for top-seeded Duke in front of 44,417 at Alamodome Saturday.

But the No. 2 seed Huskies rallied and won, 79-78, setting up a Monday night title game against Georgia Tech.

Not surprisingly, it was Okafor who got the Huskies back into the game and ultimately won it.

Okafor scored the game-winning basket when he rebounded and put back his own miss with 21 seconds left after UConn had climbed back from an eight-point deficit in just three minutes to take a 76-75 lead.

"One thing Duke has besides terrific talent is they've got the champion's heart," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "With us trailing by eight, our champion's heart arose."

Duke's J.J. Redick had a chance to put Duke back on top but was stripped of the ball by Rashad Anderson as Redick drove the lane with 11 seconds left. Anderson was fouled in the scramble for the ball and made both of his free throws. Okafor was fouled after Redick missed a 3-pointer with three seconds left, and Okafor made one of his free throws. Duke's Chris Duhon banked in a 3 at the buzzer. Duke did not score in the last 3:28 until Duhon's last-second shot.

Okafor, who averages 17.4 points and 11.6 rebounds, picked up two first-half fouls within less than a minute of each other and played just four minutes without scoring. His second foul occurred with 16:05 left in the first half and UConn leading 7-3. He didn't play again until after the half.

"My first time in the Final Four, I don't want to miss a minute, and I had to miss 16," Okafor said. "It was eating me up inside."

Okafor did not score until making a free throw 2:14 into the second half. He didn't get his first field goal until 14:14 was left in the game on an inside basket, followed by a dunk on UConn's next possession. He finished with 18 points, all in the second half, none bigger than the last field goal.

"I saw the orange object," Okafor said. "I grabbed it, spun, saw the rim and thought it was a good idea to put it in. That's what I did."

Connecticut shooting guard Ben Gordon also scored 18 points and made 7-of-8 free throws.

Connecticut shot 62.5 percent in the second half to make the comeback after trailing 41-34 at halftime and by as much as 11 points early in the second half. The Huskies shot 50 percent for the game compared to Duke's 40.8 percent.

Duke gained its advantage in turning 11 Connecticut turnovers into 17 points in the first half, compared to just two points off turnovers for Connecticut.

Its 3-point shots not falling, Duke also managed to get inside Connecticut's defense for 30 points in the lane in the first half -- opportunities that surely would not have existed if Okafor had been in the game.

Connecticut made its run midway into the second half, relying on Okafor's inside strength to keep pace with Duke's playmakers on the perimeter.

The teams matched each other shot for shot for several minutes in the second half until Connecticut went on an 8-0 run capped by an Okafor turnaround jumper that trimmed Duke's lead to 59-58 with 9:17 to play.

Duke extended its lead back to eight, 75-67 with 3:28 to play.

"The whole country probably thought we were out," Okafor said. "We all believed and the next thing you know - bam. We're up and the game's over and we're celebrating."

---

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com