Welcome to March. It’s the time of year when you’ll see Anteaters beat Wildcats and Racers defeat Golden Eagles.

We’ve seen both of those things happen in the early stages of March Madness, as a field of 64 teams narrowed down to 16. Several low-seeded teams have pushed perennial powers to their limits. Many top seeds have proven themselves worthy of their stature, blowing through teams like Abilene Christian and Gardner-Webb.

There’s been plenty of quality college basketball around the country, but perhaps none of the games drew more interest than No. 1 Duke’s 77-76 win against the ninth-seeded University of Central Florida Knights on Sunday.

Anyone who’s seen at least part of a no-hitter or perfect game in baseball or softball knows there’s usually a turning point where you know the pitcher has a definite shot at doing something special. It can be a diving catch in the eighth inning, or a robbed home run, or maybe even a well-hit fastball that narrowly sails into foul territory. That’s the type of feeling many fans experienced after watching Duke squeak out a win on Sunday.

What happened in the final seconds of that game might as well have been the diving catch that saved the Blue Devils’ season.

You need to watch the last few minutes of the game to understand the madness that took place. Here’s the reader’s digest version of the last couple of plays: With under 20 seconds left on the clock and the Knights leading 76-75 , Duke’s Zion Williamson made a layup while drawing a foul from Tacko Fall, UCF’s 7-foot-6 big man who hardly needs to leave his feet to dunk. That was the fifth and final foul on Fall, who finished with 15 points.

It also brought UCF’s worst-case scenario into play.

Williamson missed his free throw, but teammate R.J. Barrett grabbed the rebound and made a basket to put Duke up by one point with 11 seconds left.

With its season on the line, UCF got a couple of the best looks it could have asked for.

B.J. Taylor launched a contested shot on the other side of the floor. His attempt hit the rim and landed in the hands of airborne teammate Aubrey Dawkins, who had an uncontested putback attempt. Dawkins, who finished with 32 points, saw his desperation shot roll off of the rim. Had the shot rolled in, the Knights would have taken a one-point lead with just a couple of seconds left in the game.

It just wasn’t meant to be. Williamson mentioned the influence of ‘basketball gods’ in his postseason press conference.

It probably had more to to with luck than anything. But regardless of how they did it, the Blue Devils survived and advanced. That’s what March is all about.

Duke still needs to win four more games to take home a national championship. The same can be said for North Carolina. Yes, the dream of a Blue Devils vs. Tar Heels matchup in the title game is still intact, but it’s the farthest thing from guaranteed.

Duke faces No. 4 Virginia Tech on Friday night at 9:39 p.m. That will be preceded by No. 1 North Carolina’s game against No. 5 Auburn at 7:29 p.m.

It’s going to be an entertaining race to the finish line.

Brandon Tester Sports editor
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Brandon-Tester-3.jpgBrandon Tester Sports editor