Jahlil Okafor scored two big baskets late and Tyus Jones hit a key 3-pointer to lift Duke University to its fifth national college basketball title in a 68-63 comeback win over the University of Wisconsin.
Duke outscored Wisconsin by 14 points over the final 13 minutes to win the decider in Indianapolis on Monday night.
Okafor, the likely first pick in the NBA draft, got outplayed by Badgers star centre Frank Kaminsky, but came through when the pressure was highest.
He made two straight baskets over Kaminsky, sandwiched between a pair of 3-pointers from Jones, to turn a nine-point deficit into an eight-point lead with 1:22 left.
Jones scored 23 points to lead the Blue Devils, while Okafor had 10.
"My teammates and the coaching staff, they've given me confidence," Jones said. "They believed in me and trusted in me all year. There wasn't a moment they doubted me."
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski now has five national championship titles - winning in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015 - to rank second on the all-time college coaching list behind John Wooden, who won 10 titles with UCLA.
Duke was led this year by a talented group of first-year students - Okafor, Jones and Justise Winslow. Another first-year student, Grayson Allen, who was averaging just 4 points per game, scored 16 points to keep Duke in the championship game when Wisconsin began to pull away in the second half.
Wisconsin, who upset undefeated Kentucky in the semi-finals, turned a 31-all halftime tie into a 48-39 lead after Kaminsky made a layup with 13:23 left.
But the Badgers couldn't pull away from an aggressive Duke defence that allowed only 55 points a game in the five contests leading to the final.
Wisconsin shot 41 percent - 7 points under its season average.
Kaminsky finished with 21 points and Nigel Hayes and Sam Dekker added 13 apiece for the Badgers, who were trying to win their first national title since 1941.
"Shots just weren't falling, and they were getting to the line, and when the tide changes like that, it's kind of hard to get back in the flow," Dekker said.
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