COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN'S TOURNAMENT : For Duke, All It Takes Is Perfection : East Regional: Laettner hits every shot he takes, including game-winner in overtime victory over Kentucky.

By GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI

March 29, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHILADELPHIA — “We’re going to win.”

That’s what Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said as he looked into the eyes of his players during the final timeout of Saturday’s NCAA East Regional final against Kentucky.

Down by one point in overtime, a scant 2.1 seconds remaining on the clock, Krzyzewski diagramed perhaps the most critical inbounds play of his career. Then he simply said: “We’re going to get a good shot. We can win.”

Moments later, he watched when Grant Hill threw the ball 77 feet to Christian Laettner, who, despite the efforts of two frantic Kentucky defenders, caught the pass near the Duke free-throw line, took one dribble, faked right, pivoted left and then, as the clock raced toward zeros, released a 17-foot shot that dived through the net.

Top-ranked Duke, pushed to the outer edge of the tournament envelope by Kentucky, had won, 104-103, and advanced to its fifth consecutive Final Four. There the Blue Devils will face Indiana in the semifinals, but only because of the incredible Laettner.

The All-America center took 10 shots and made them all. He took 10 free throws and made them, too. He played 43 of the 45 minutes, scored 31 points and added seven rebounds to a performance that will be replayed on the Durham campus frame by frame, play by play.

“I felt like I was watching Robert Redford in ‘The Natural,’ ” Hill said.

No sequence of events--and there were dozens worthy of applause--will be more marveled at than Laettner’s game-winning shot. No wonder Duke sports information director Mike Cragg grabbed the ball at game’s end, handed it to a team manager and told him to put it in a very safe place.

“I think we’ve all been a part of one of the great games ever,” said Krzyzewski, who went on the Kentucky radio network to express his admiration for the Wildcats’ effort.

Krzyzewski’s final play was simple enough: Position Laettner at the opposite foul line and have Hill heave the ball to the 6-foot-11 center. If guarded too closely, Laettner could try to tap the ball to teammate Thomas Hill, the second option, or to guard Bobby Hurley, the third choice.

In retrospect, Duke (32-2) couldn’t have been more fortunate. The two tallest Kentucky starters, Jamal Mashburn and Gimel Martinez, both 6-8, had fouled out. That left Wildcat Coach Rick Pitino with a shorter choice of 6-7 defenders, Deron Feldhaus and John Pelphrey.

With no Kentucky defender to bother him, Grant Hill wound up for the throw to Laettner. Earlier this season, Duke attempted the same play to tie Wake Forest in the waning moments. It failed miserably when Hill’s pass sailed wide.

“It’s funny, but I never throw a good pass in drills, either,” he said.

This time Hill cocked his arm and hoped for the best. As the ball arched toward Laettner’s outstretched hands (“It seemed like it took forever,” Hill said), Pelphrey and Feldhaus positioned themselves for a steal, a batted pass . . . anything but a foul.

“Two seconds. You don’t have time to think,” Feldhaus said. “If you can go for the steal, you go for the steal.”

They tried, but failed. Laettner caught the ball, turned and shot.

“I didn’t even see it go in the hoop,” Laettner said. “All I saw was the net move.”

Grant Hill sprinted toward Laettner for a celebratory embrace. Hurley searched for a teammate, any teammate. “At that point, I was just trying to find someone to hug,” he said.

Fans stormed the Spectrum court. A ladder appeared from out of nowhere and was positioned under the basket, the better for postgame net snipping.

Kentucky guard Sean Woods, who scored 21 points--including an incredible driving bank shot over Laettner with 2.2 seconds to play, giving the second-seeded Wildcats their last lead--sprawled in disbelief. A Duke cheerleader’s pom-pom somehow found its way between his legs.

Pelphrey, a senior, stood at the foul line with his hands on top of his head. Later, inside the Kentucky locker room, he leaned against a bathroom stall and sobbed. He tried to speak with reporters several minutes later, but lasted no more than a few comments.

“(Laettner) hit a great shot,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any way to explain that. Words can’t describe it. A great player made a great shot.”

Asked to describe Kentucky’s season, one in which the Wildcats finished 29-7, Pelphrey couldn’t go on.

“I’d like to,” he said, trying hard not to cry again, “but I can’t . . . talk.”

He stepped quietly into the bathroom again and kept repeating: “I can’t talk. . . . I can’t talk.”

Pelphrey was to be excused. The game, the shot, the result left nearly everyone speechless.

Kentucky shot 56.9%, executed its famed press to perfection in the second half and played as well, if not better, than Duke. Mashburn had 28 points, Pelphrey 16 and Dale Brown 18. And the Wildcats forced 20 turnovers.

“This game we probably should have lost,” Grant Hill said. “Kentucky played great.”

True enough. Duke led by as many as 10 points with 7:29 to play in regulation. The Wildcats were hurt by foul problems, weary from using their press and seemingly on the verge of being put away for good by the more experienced, more savvy Blue Devils.

But Kentucky, undersized but not overwhelmed, fought back to tie the game, 93-93, with 33.6 seconds remaining. Duke had a chance to win it, but Hurley missed a 10-footer with three seconds left.

A failed Kentucky inbounds play sent the game into overtime, presenting Laettner with the opportunity to do what he loves best: become the focal point, the first option.

Two seasons ago in the same East Regional final, Laettner beat Connecticut with a game-winning bank shot at the buzzer. As was the case Saturday night, Duke was behind by one point.

“But I wasn’t as sure about this shot as I was in the Connecticut game,” said Laettner, whose 31 points pushed him past Houston’s Elvin Hayes into the all-time scoring lead in NCAA tournament games. Laettner has 380 points in 20 games, breaking Hayes’ mark of 358 points.

Laettner slipped a Final Four T-shirt over his Duke jersey minutes after his decisive shot. It had a familiar look. He then waited patiently to climb the red ladder and cut the remaining strands from the rim. Each of his four seasons at Duke have included such a climb, a celebration of another Final Four trip earned.

But this one was a bit more special. This one was the product of magic, of luck and of a shot that won’t soon be forgotten.