Belmont won 25 games, captured its first outright Atlantic Sun regular-season title and won its third consecutive conference tournament championship in 2007-08.

That should have been the end of the story. The Bruins' NCAA Tournament experience should have been as predictable and routine as one of coach Rick Byrd's sweater vests. In their two previous games as a No. 15 seed, they were steamrolled by Final Four-bound Georgetown in 2007 and UCLA in 2006.

Not this time. Nashville-based Belmont, better known for its music program, sang a different tune and nearly completed a historic upset against Coach K and second-seeded Duke. The Bruins led the three-time national champs by one point with 12 seconds left before Gerald Henderson's dramatic drive gave the Blue Devils a 71-70 victory.

Clutch-shooting senior guard Justin Hare, author of 14 career game-winning or game-tying shots, couldn't hit No. 15 as his deep three at the buzzer missed the mark.

"It's tough to come that close and not win," Byrd said. "I'm so proud of our team and our players. I wouldn't feel any better or be any prouder of them if the score would have been in our favor. We played hard enough and well enough to win."

The heartbreaking defeat snapped a 13-game winning streak by the Bruins and capped a memorable season that included non-conference victories at Cincinnati and Alabama.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.