SAN ANTONIO -- Emeka Okafor played just four minutes and did not score in the first half of the second national semifinal game last night against Duke at the Alamodome. But it wasn't Okafor's chronic back injury or his recent problems with stingers that kept him on the bench. It was another old nemesis ? foul trouble.

Faced with the prospect of being embarrassed on college basketball's biggest stage, the most dominating player in the game proved his worth. He took over the contest and sparked a come-from-behind 79-78 victory that sent the Huskies to the championship game, 9:21 p.m. tomorrow, for the second time in six seasons.

Okafor, a 6-foot-9 junior, scored 18 points in the second half to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, all in just 22 minutes.

"Sitting out the first half was one of the most difficult things I had to deal with," Okafor said. "It was my first time in the Final Four, and I had to sit out 16 minutes. It was eating me up inside."

Okafor's mind-set in the second half was simple: "It was now or never," he said.

He was 7 for 9 from the floor and made 4 of 7 free throws, including one with three seconds to go that gave the Huskies a four-point bulge.

"He was zoned," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "He was just so focused into winning that basketball game that he took it upon himself. ? He's awfully special. He's the best player in America. He's the best role model, I think, in college basketball. I've said that before so many times. If you need any more proof, tonight was another example of why he is so special."

But the second half didn't start out well for Okafor, either. He picked up his third foul four minutes in and had to sit on the bench again. When he re-entered the game, with less than 14 minutes to go, it was with a furor.

"That was the season on the line, a lot of hopes and dreams," Okafor said.

Okafor first scored off pass from Josh Boone and then had a follow slam dunk off an offensive rebound to make the score 50-46 with 13:38 to go.

Every time Duke tried to pull away, Okafor was there was pull the Huskies up by the bootstraps. He got the Huskies to within one point after blocking a Luol Deng shot and then making a short jumper at the other end of the floor.

With 1:18 remaining, he pulled the Huskies to within one again. After Deng missed a 3-point shot at the other end, he made the biggest play of the game, grabbing a rebound away from Deng and laying in the go-ahead points, 76-75.

"He showed why he's a legitimate national player of the year candidate and why he's such a force," Boone said. "When he's playing like that, you don't get out of his way, but you get out of his way enough and just try to put yourself in a position where you can get an offensive rebound or something."

"I felt unstoppable in the second half," Okafor said. "We came too far to go home. If we were going to go down, we were going to go down kicking and screaming."