Lahaina >> Auburn guard Jared Harper dribbled end to end as the seconds ticked down and rose up to cram it, tomahawk style, as he’d done to Xavier the day before without an issue.
Zion Williamson was waiting this time.
The Duke freshman — a freight elevator with arms — rose up and sent the slight guard and the ball packing like express cargo.
That moment encapsulated the Tigers’ fate in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational semifinals: close, but not close enough to topple mighty, top-ranked Duke.
The No. 8 Tigers never led in falling 78-72, but they became the first team to play within single digits of the Blue Devils this season.
Mike Krzyzewski’s four fabulous freshmen had their highlights Tuesday, but they also looked downright human at times. They needed to conjure their own version of the Fabulous Five — adding junior center Marques Bolden to complete the moniker — to get through to the Maui title game, where they’ll face Gonzaga at noon today.
Bolden, a role player by reputation, contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and seven huge blocked shots, earning plaudits from his legendary coach and his more celebrated teammates Williamson, Cam Reddish, R.J. Barrett and Tre Jones.
“I think Coach K got out of this what he wanted — he wanted to get tested a little bit,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We threatened them, but they were never scared. If we could have got off to a better start we might have had a much better chance to win the game.”
Krzyzewski had no problem recognizing his team’s mortality. It was played far tighter than its season-opening laugher, a 34-point rout of then-No. 2 Kentucky.
“It’s the season. You look at our league we’re going to be in a lot of games,” the 39-year coach said of the Atlantic Coast Conference. “We’re going to get beat. You can get beat and play well. And this (Auburn) team would be an outstanding team in any league. And a lot of these kids won the SEC regular season last year and I can see why. Bruce does a hell of a job of getting them to play so hard.”
Even with Harper getting schooled on his attempted halftime cram session, Duke’s eight-point lead was its closest intermission margin of the season.
Coming out of it, the Blue Devils put together one of their trademark dominant sequences. Barrett soared for an alley-oop flush to open the second half and Bolden swatted a shot emphatically at the other end. Then Bolden dunked. Reddish stole it. Bolden emphatically flushed a two-handed tip jam. Auburn missed a tip jam and Barrett windmilled it at the other end.
It was suddenly a 16-point game, and as well as the Tigers played from there, they’d dug themselves too big of a hole, getting only as close as five on a Harper second-chance 3 with 8:19 left. Reddish answered it in kind.
“I feel like we handled it really well,” said Jones, the Blue Devils point guard who had 10 points and six assists. “We go through those situations all the time in practice. The coaches prepare us for situations like this. I feel like we handled the adversity and were able to make the plays to win the game.”
Reddish and Barrett scored 18 apiece and Williamson had 13 points and nine rebounds.
The fearless Harper, the shortest player on the court by far at a realistic 5 feet 9, finished with 22 points, shooting 6-for-10 on a series of difficult 3s, including a deep one at the horn.
MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL DAY 3
Today at Lahaina Civic Center
>> Championship: No. 1 Duke (5-0) vs. No. 3 Gonzaga (5-0), noon (ESPN)
>> Third place: No. 8 Auburn (4-1) vs. Arizona (4-1), 6:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
>> Fifth place: San Diego State (3-1) vs. Iowa State (4-1), 9:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
>> Seventh place: Xavier (2-3) vs. Illinois (1-3), 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
