DURHAM, N.C. — He sat on the floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium for several seconds Saturday night, his arms resting on his knees and his eyes staring down toward the historic hardwood. The 6-foot-8, 260-pound Charles Mitchell eventually rose to his feet, and when he did, guard Dez Wells was there to greet him.
Wells wrapped his right arm around Mitchell, and Mitchell put his left arm around the shoulder of his Terrapins men’s basketball teammate. Then the two Terps walked slowly across the floor together, leaning on each other for support.
It was the final time the Terps visited Duke as an ACC opponent and perhaps the end to a rivalry steeped in more than 60 years of tradition. And Saturday’s game, as Blue Devils Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski put it, was “one for the ages.”
But when Mitchell’s turnaround hook shot trickled off the rim with less than five seconds remaining and the Terps trailing by one, it sealed the team’s 69-67 loss to the No. 8 Blue Devils before an announced 9,314. That narrow miss was what sent Mitchell to the ground in devastation and what implored Wells to comfort the sophomore big man.
Mitchell and Wells both played their parts in the intense bout, a fitting finale for the rivalry’s likely final chapter. But as they separated from each other when they reached Duke’s end of the floor, it was clear they had fallen agonizingly short in a game for which the significance stretched beyond the two teams on the court Saturday night.
“This goes all the way back to the ’70s, when Len Elmore had almost a triple-double against them or Joe Smith scored 40 points,” Wells said. “This rivalry is so much bigger than anybody on this team, so we had to come out here and play for everybody who’s been part of this rivalry.”
The Terps (14-12, 6-7 ACC) came as close as they have all year to topping a ranked team and getting a marquee win for their postseason resume. They didn’t falter when they fell behind by 10 points in the first half; Wells scored all 17 of his points in the game’s final 13 minutes, and the team’s defense forced Duke (20-5, 9-3) to shoot 6-of-26 from the field in the second half.
Forward Jake Layman led the Terps with 18 points and Mitchell had 12 points and six rebounds to help the Terps get in position for an upset of a top-10 team in a hostile environment. But Duke freshman sensation Jabari Parker threw down a dunk over forward Damonte Dodd with 1:17 remaining that proved to be the game-winner.
“I can’t be more proud of my guys,” Turgeon said. “I hope Maryland fans feel the same way. I know we’re upset that we lost, but our guys gave it all they had.”
Though Parker led all scorers with 23 points, the Terps held a typically potent Duke offense to 33.3 percent from the field on the night. Even with early foul trouble — both Wells and Mitchell had three fouls before halftime — the Terps never let the game get out of reach.
Guard Nick Faust provided the Terps’ top highlight in their final trip to Durham as a conference foe when he soared from several steps outside the paint for a thunderous putback slam on a Layman miss late in the first half.
And Wells provided the most substantial production when he got into a rhythm in the second half and shouldered the offensive load for the Terps in the game’s final 13 minutes.
“He was in one of those modes where he was being aggressive and getting his shots off and getting some great looks,” Layman said.
Wells scored back-to-back transition buckets to give the Terps their first lead of the game, 54-52, with 8:26 to play. After the two rivals exchanged baskets, Wells hit a 3-pointer from the left wing that gave the Terps a 67-64 lead with 2:45 left.
But Duke forward Rodney Hood hit a pair of free throws, Parker threw down his game-defining dunk and the Terps were back down by one.
Mitchell’s shot from about 5 feet away with the game clock dwindling could have put the Terps back in the lead. Instead, it bounced off the back rim, then hit the front rim twice, hung for a second and fell off.
“I don’t know how Charles’ shot didn’t go in,” Turgeon said. “Call it the Duke gods or whatever. That thing was rolling in, and all of a sudden, it’s rolling out.”
Rather than Wells and Mitchell triumphantly hugging and cheering, they came together to console each other after the excruciating loss.
Yet it was also a contest that added another — and potentially final — epic tilt to a storied rivalry.
“Being a part of this tradition is second to none,” Wells said. “I just wish we could have won this game.”
[ READ MORE: MBB: Terps at Duke ]