Connecticut's Richard Hamilton scored a game-high 27 points in Monday's NCAA title game. (AP)

By C. Jemal Horton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 30, 1999; Page D1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 29 – Connecticut won.

The Huskies came to Tropicana Field tonight, took on vaunted Duke and did what few thought they could, which was translated into impossible. Connecticut knocked off the Blue Devils, 77-74, earning the school's first NCAA men's basketball championship and relieving Coach Jim Calhoun of the reputation as a great coach who never won a title.

The Huskies (34-2) ended Duke's 32-game winning streak only after two questionable decisions by Blue Devils senior guard Trajan Langdon, surprising play from Connecticut guard Ricky Moore and clutch scoring from point guard Khalid El-Amin (12 points) and forward Richard Hamilton (27 points). Hamilton was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four.

Duke (37-2) and Connecticut were the only teams to hold the country's top ranking this season. And the game many expected to be a battle -- this was only the third matchup between No. 1 seeds -- was indeed that. That probably is what made Connecticut's championship so impressive and satisfying.

"Our players wanted Duke instead of Michigan State," Calhoun said. "I kind of said maybe the [coach] knew better. But the kids knew better. They knew they were going to beat the best tonight. As of this moment, we're the best team in the country."

A game that included 14 ties and seven lead changes seemed to tilt Connecticut's way when it turned a 48-43, early second-half deficit into 57-53 lead that it extended to 65-59 with 8 minutes 55 seconds to play. But Duke held the Huskies without a field goal for more than four minutes and rallied to tie the score at 66.

However, with the score tied at 68, Hamilton made two free throws. Duke point guard William Avery committed a turnover, and Hamilton made a three-pointer for a 73-68 Connecticut lead with 3 1/2 minutes left.

It was 73-69 until Langdon made a three-pointer with 1:30 to play. After El-Amin made a basket and Avery two free throws, El-Amin missed a shot from the lane with 19 seconds left. Duke's Chris Carrawell grabbed the rebound, and Duke, trailing by one point, decided to go without a timeout and to give Langdon the ball.

Langdon dribbled into the middle for a shot, ran into Moore and traveled with 5.4 seconds left. When a reporter asked Langdon a question about whether that was the play Duke wanted, Krzyzewski intercepted.

"Let me answer that," he said. "Absolutely, positively, absolutely. I want Trajan Langdon to take that shot. I will win or lose with Trajan Langdon. I will walk down any road with Trajan Langdon. It's a set we've run a number of times, and most of the time it's successful. The ball was in our best player's hands with an opportunity to win the game."

Duke fouled El-Amin with 5.2 seconds left, and he made a pair of free throws to give the Huskies a 77-74 lead.

Duke had one last chance, and again that chance went to Langdon, who took the inbounds pass and dribbled calmly upcourt. But as the clock began to show :01, Langdon tried to dribble through El-Amin and Rashamel Jones to get off a shot. Langdon fell and lost the ball, and when the clock ran down, Duke had lost the national title so many figured it would win after dominating college basketball this season.

Again, Krzyzewski said he had no regrets about not calling a timeout.

"We have a play where we get it in quickly, and we should advance down court with the ball," Krzyzewski said. "I think there were 5.2 seconds left. That's plenty. If it was, like, under three [seconds] we probably would have tried to [take a timeout] at half court."

Hamilton and El-Amin were the Huskies' heroes late, but they were carried throughout the game by Moore, who scored all 13 of his points in the first half. Moore also was the Huskies' main defensive player as he rotated defending Langdon and Avery, who was Moore's former teammate in high school.

Connecticut played strong defense most of the night, with 6-foot-11 center Jake Voskuhl and 6-11 reserve Souleymane Wane defending Duke's all-American center, Elton Brand. Nearly each Husky on the floor sagged off to assist Voskuhl or Wane against Brand.

Brand finished with 15 points, but the Huskies outrebounded the Blue Devils 41-31 and held Duke to 41 percent shooting.

"We did what we had to do to win this game," Moore said. "For me, my will to win took over. And here we are national champions. Dag, it feels good!"

Besides the fact that they shot 53 percent in the first half, while holding Duke to 44.8 percent, the Huskies had another reason to be optimistic at halftime. Brand had only five points on 2-of-4 shooting. In addition, Duke held only a two-point lead, 39-37, at intermission.

But Brand finally began to dominate in the second half, just when it seemed his team needed it most.

With Connecticut holding its largest lead of the game, 65-59, with 8:56 left, Brand blocked a jump shot by Hamilton, then raced in for a layup to cut the lead to four points.

After that, Brand stole the ball from forward Edmund Saunders at half court and was fouled. Brand missed both free throws, but his play motivated his team, which led to a Duke rally and a cold streak by the Huskies.

Carrawell made a jump shot, and Langdon made one free throw to pull the Blue Devils to 65-64. After Saunders made a free throw, Carrawell answered with a jump shot to tie the score at 66.

The Huskies then went without a field goal for 4 1/2 minutes. The Connecticut drought ended when El-Amin made a jump shot to give the Huskies a 68-66 lead with 4:19 to play.

Connecticut started the game with a wrinkle by having Moore defend Langdon instead of Avery, as expected.

The move kept Langdon from getting good looks at the basket early, although the 6-2 Avery had little trouble scoring on the 5-10 El-Amin. Later in the game, when Avery began to score seemingly at will, Moore switched to defending his longtime friend from Augusta, Ga.

However, with El-Amin defending him, Avery scored four of Duke's first nine points, and the Blue Devils built a 9-2 lead a little more than three minutes into the game.

Then Connecticut shook off those early difficulties and three turnovers to go on a 15-4 run, taking a 17-13 lead with 12:30 left in the first half. Moore, who with El-Amin and all-American Hamilton in the lineup takes on more of a defensive role, scored nine points during the surge.

Some of Moore's points came with Avery defending him. At one moment, after Moore drove to the basket and Avery reached in to knock the ball out of bounds, Moore turned to the crowd and said, "He can't guard me."

During that time, the game was being played at a frenetic pace. Over a seven-minute span, there were six ties. Connecticut held the lead five times, and Duke led twice.

With the score 32-32 and 3:45 left in the half, Connecticut's Jones soared in for a layup that gave the Huskies the lead. After Duke missed four shots and committed two turnovers, Hamilton increased the Huskies' lead to four points by making a running jump shot with 1:27 to go until halftime.

Then Langdon went to work and gave the Blue Devils some momentum heading into the second half.

On Duke's next trip down court, he squared up against Moore and made a three-pointer from about a foot behind the three-point line to pull the Blue Devils to 36-35 with 1:06 to go.