SALT LAKE CITY - If you are to conquer a king, you have to kill him.
That was Ralph Waldo Emerson's criticism of family friend and then-Harvard student Oliver Wendell Holmes' essay on Plato, but it could just as easily have been said about the less cerebral Colorado State men's basketball team in its 67-57 loss to Duke.
With 3:01 left in the game, Colorado State (19-14) was in prime position for the biggest upset of the young tournament.
Senior Dahntay Jones, who had a mammoth game with 23 points in 27 minutes, had fouled out with 5:51 left in the contest, senior Casey Sanders fouled out with 3:07 in the game and sophomore Daniel Ewing had just committed his second five-second violation in 1:25.
Feeding off the overwhelmingly pro-Rams crowd, senior Brian Greene downed a long two-pointer to shrink Duke's lead to 59-57. The crowd noise went from notable to deafening.
"People always root for the underdog," Duke captain Chris Duhon said.
Colorado State went scoreless for the final three minutes. The Rams, however, were not without opportunities.
After Duke freshman Shelden Williams committed yet another Blue Devil turnover, Colorado State confidently pushed the ball up the court, ran an effective half-court set and gave Greene an open look for a three-pointer that would have given the Rams the lead.
It did not.
After Duke rebounded Greene's miss, the Blue Devils (25-6) ran a play for ACC Tournament MVP Daniel Ewing. He subsequently committed a foul trying to get his own rebound.
This sent Colorado State's Shelton Johnson to the line with the chance of knotting-up the score at 59 with 1:54 remaining on the clock.
Johnson coolly and calmly walked to the line and bricked two free-throws.
Duke successfully grabbed the missed shot, and worked the shot clock on its next possession. Duhon forced up a shot as the clock ticked closer to its limit, but missed. Williams, however, avoided all Colorado State box-outs and put back the miss for a 61-57 lead with 1:24 remaining.
Colorado called a time-out to try to regroup. The Rams' Michael Morris became wide-open on the out-of-bounds play and burst to the hoop. He made it to the goal on just one dribble after starting at the three-point line, and thunderously slammed the ball through the basket.
Morris' move was a little too quick for his own good, however, as the officials called a traveling violation en route to his slam with 1:13 left in the game.
This apparently poetic referee's call was metaphorical, as at this point it was inevitable that the Colorado State team would shortly be traveling back to Fort Collins, where the players will encounter 32 inches of snow in addition to many pats on the back.
After the turn-over, the Rams tried to force another Ewing five-second violation, but this time the Texas native bounced the ball off the butt of a Colorado State player to inbound to himself.
Duke then ran a half-court set for Williams, who was fouled.
Williams calmly and coolly walked to the line and swished two free-throws.
The game ended after two more Colorado desperation possessions and four more Duke free-throws. While the Rams' certainly put in a tremendous effort, their inability to show a killer instinct and put the final nail in Duke's coffin ended their chance to knock off the ACC king.
"I'm terribly proud of our team," Colorado State head coach Dale Layer said. "I thought we battled and hung in there."
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