Clemente made a 3-pointer with 4:49 left to cap an 8-0 run and give K-State its only lead of the game, 52-51. Teams like Butler are supposed to fold then, right?

Well, not quite.

Hayward got fouled going to the hole and made two free throws to take the lead back, and teammate Matt Howard made one more free throw to make it 54-52. Clemente dribbled for what seemed like forever for a layup to tie, and that was the last significant basket the Wildcats would make.

Coach Frank Martin wouldn’t make excuses, but clearly that Xavier game took a lot out of the Wildcats — and it showed at the end.

“We looked tired. We were sluggish but I don’t think it was as much about our wrongdoing as it was Butler’s right-doing,” he said.

With the score tied at 54, Butler took the lead for good on the next possession when Hayward — that rare NBA prospect playing at a mid-major — stretched his entire 6-foot-9 frame to not only collect a too-high, alley-oop pass from Nored, but collect himself and make the shot.

“I’ve said it already lots of times,” Hayward said. “Coach and my teammates put me in that position and sometimes you’ve just got to make a play, and I was lucky enough to hit it.”

Pullen came back with an air ball and Butler pulled away from there, ending Kansas State’s equally gritty quest — an effort that will certainly gain the Wildcats more cachet in a state that has long thought about the Jayhawks first.

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Big man Curtis Kelly also had 14 points for Kansas State, which shot 38 percent for the game and didn’t make a basket outside of 15 feet in the first half.

Credit for that, once again, goes to the Bulldogs, coached by the 33-year-old Stevens, who has refused to buy into the underdog story.

Being a mid-major, he insists, is mainly about money and resources, not about 5-on-5 in a 40-minute game with nothing — or everything — on the line.

Stevens found the players who fit his style — players who like to work hard, don’t back down from a challenge and don’t care that the big schools didn’t come chasing after them.

They’re players who loved Hinkle Fieldhouse, the home of the Bulldogs, but also a tourist stopover because it’s where the 1980s classic “Hoosiers,” starring Hackman, was filmed.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched that movie,” said Hayward, a native of Brownsburg, Ind. “I lost count. Growing up in Indiana, I have watched it so many times. But I definitely love that movie.”

Players who appreciate it certainly appreciate team basketball, Stevens said, and now his team will play in a much bigger venue — Lucas Oil Stadium next Saturday against Michigan State or Tennessee. The stadium seats about 70,000 for basketball. Butler’s home games — all of them — drew a total of about 90,000 all season.

A great underdog story, most of America will call it.

Good bet, though, that the boys from Butler won’t settle with being happy to be there.

“Certainly this is going to be a highlight for all of us,” Stevens said. “But you’re always moving to the next thing.”

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Mark J. Terrill / AP

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