By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ATLANTA - There was good reason for hurt in the Xavier locker room Sunday after the most successful season in school history came to a close at the hands of three-time NCAA Tournament champion Duke.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos from Sunday's game

Xavier (26-11) fully intended to be playing in the Final Four on Saturday in San Antonio, but came up three points short, losing 66-63 in the regional final in front of 24,711 at the Georgia Dome.

Duke, Connecticut, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State will decide the national championship. Xavier gets in line with the 322 other Division I teams that must wait until next year.

As much anguish as the Musketeers' players and coaches felt because of the way Sunday's game ended, there was plenty of perspective on Xavier's achievements in what could go down as the greatest two months ever for the program.

"It's hard because you have a team like this that you enjoy being with," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "The thought crosses your mind that there's no more practices. Put everything away. That's the hardest part as a coach because you've seen where these kids came from. To get to this point, 'proud' is the only word I can think of."

On Feb. 3, Xavier was 10-9 going into its game against No. 10-ranked Cincinnati. The Musketeers won that game and kept winning (except for one blip against Duquesne) all the way to the Elite Eight. Xavier won 16 of 17 games before running up against Duke (31-5), including NCAA Tournament victories against Louisville, Mississippi State and Texas.

For 38 minutes Sunday, it looked as if Xavier might be able to continue winning. The Musketeers and Blue Devils waged a back-and-forth game from the start, neither team ever leading by more than six points. Usually the margin was more in the two- or three-point range.

Xavier even weathered the loss of starting center Anthony Myles, who fouled out with more than 12 minutes to play, leaving the Musketeers vulnerable in the post.

Xavier led 56-53 with five and a half minutes left. Duke's Luol Deng hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at the 5:10 mark. The scoreboard stalled at 56-56 for more than two minutes before Duke's J.J. Redick hit another 3-pointer that gave Duke control of the game with 2:55 to play.

"That was a huge shot," Xavier sophomore Dedrick Finn said. "It felt like somebody put a dagger through my heart on that one."

It was a shot that Xavier couldn't match. The Musketeers relied significantly on 3-point shooting to get to this game, but made just three of 15 3-point attempts Sunday. Duke made eight of 20 3-point tries.

Xavier senior Lionel Chalmers scored 17 points but was called for two critical charges late in the second half, one on which he made a layup that was wiped away.

"I didn't think it was a charge at all, but that's part of the game," Chalmers said. "You hope they don't call that and let you play it out. When you leave it all out there, you really can't complain. You've got to lose sometime, and I guess tonight was our night to lose. I left it all on the floor so I have no regrets."

Xavier's other senior guard, Romain Sato, finished his career as the school's third all-time leading scorer but managed only 10 points against Duke's defense while grabbing 11 rebounds.

"They do a good job of taking me out of the game," said Sato, who made two of 10 shots from the field. "They were on top of me, denying me. They don't want me to touch the ball."

Duke limited Xavier to 34.9 percent shooting from the field. Xavier was almost as successful against Duke, forcing the Blue Devils into a 38.9 percent shooting game.

That stats did not matter, however, when it came time to make the game-deciding plays in the last few minutes. First, Redick hit the go-ahead 3-pointer, and then Deng, the Atlanta Regional Most Outstanding Player, made a tip-in that gave Duke a 61-56 lead with 1:55 to play.

Xavier's Justin Doellman answered with a 3-pointer, but Xavier would get no closer as Duke made five free throws in the last 1:11. Chalmers made a 3-pointer with .8 seconds left, but Duke ran out the clock on the inbounds pass and began to celebrate its 14th trip to the Final Four.

Matta shook hands with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and immediately left the court, saying later he could only think about how close Xavier had come to the Final Four.

"This team proved today, they're probably one of the best 10 teams in the country at this stage in the NCAA Tournament," Matta said. "To go where they came from, to where they are now, I'm elated."

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

Xavier	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Cage	26	2	4	1	2	5	0	2	1	5
Doellman	28	2	9	0	0	1	0	1	1	5
Myles	23	7	11	2	4	10	1	5	0	16
Chalmers	40	6	16	4	4	3	1	4	5	17
Sato	40	2	10	6	9	11	4	4	2	10
Finn	32	2	8	2	2	1	2	2	1	7
Cole	11	1	5	1	2	2	0	3	0	3
Totals	200	22	63	16	23	40	8	21	10	63

Team rebounds - 7.

Duke	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Deng	30	7	13	3	5	7	3	4	1	19
Williams	30	3	5	6	7	13	0	4	1	12
Redick	38	4	14	2	2	7	1	4	2	13
Ewing	33	4	11	2	2	3	3	3	3	13
Duhon	40	2	8	2	2	5	5	0	2	6
Horvath	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	0
Dockery	10	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	0
Randolph	15	1	2	1	2	3	0	5	1	3
Totals	200	21	54	16	20	39	15	23	11	66

Team rebounds - 0.

Xavier	30	33	-63
Duke	28	38	-66

3-pointers - XU 3-15 (Doellman 1-3, Chalmers 1-5, Sato 0-3, Finn 1-4), D 8-20 (Deng 2-4, Redick 3-9, Ewing 3-6, Duhon 0-1). Technicals - None. Officials - Kitts, Poole, Driscoll. Attendance - 24,711.