Duke escapes Butler, wins fourth title

Duke beat Butler 61-59 for the national championship Monday night, a win that wasn't secure until after the buzzer sounded -- when Gordon Hayward's halfcourt, 3-point heave for the win barely missed to leave tiny Butler one cruel basket short of the Hollywood ending.

Singler scored 19 points and Brian Zoubek rebounded Hayward's miss with 3.6 seconds left -- the first of two chances Butler had to win it -- to end the overachieving underdog's try for a real-life "Hoosiers" sequel.

"We just came up a bounce short," Butler coach Brad Stevens said.

That bounce went in favor of the Blue Devils (35-5), who snapped Butler's 25-game winning streak and brought the long-awaited fourth national title back home to Carolina and the Cameron Crazies.

The "Big Three" -- Singler, Jon Scheyer (15 points) and Nolan Smith (13) -- won the Big One for coach Mike Krzyzewski, his first championship since 2001 and the fourth overall, tying Coach K with Adolph Rupp for second place on the all-time list.

"First of all, it was a great basketball game. I want to congratulate an amazing Butler team and their fans," Krzyzewski said. "Fabulous year. We played a great game, they played a great game. It's hard for me to say it, to imagine that we're the national champions."