COLUMBIA , S.C. — It was all right there for Aubrey Dawkins.

B.J. Taylor drove from the right side and missed a floater, and Dawkins came flying in for the last-second tip — one that would have sent home the legendary Hall of Fame coach who had recruited and fell in love with his father as a player and then as an assistant coach, would have simultaneously sent his father and coach and their team, UCF, to the Sweet 16.

Johnny Dawkins’ son had exploded out from under the shadow of Zion Williamson’s matchup with the 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall, had singlehandedly willed the UCF Knights to this moment, scored 32 points, same as Zion … and now this tip-in with his right hand would give UCF a shocking 78-77 upset of Duke.

The ball could not make up its mind. The basketball gods could not make up their minds. It was in … and then it wasn’t.

As Zion, the Blue Devils and their fans began celebrating their spine-tingling 77-76 victory, Aubrey Dawkins lay flat on his back, his head in his hands.

“It breaks your heart,” he said.

He was asked how long it seemed the ball and a game made for March Madness hung on the rim.

“An eternity,” he said. “It was up there forever, I felt like, in slow motion.”

The Duke basketball twitter feed reminded us: “Aubrey Dawkins grew up shooting Js in our gyms.”

Yes he did. From the age of 4.

“Close to a decade of getting shots up there, messing around. Great memories,” Dawkins said.

His father had served at Mike Krzyzewski’s side for a decade.

If there was anyone’s dream Coach K didn’t want to shatter, it was Johnny Dawkins: great player, great man.

“I love Johnny Dawkins,” Krzyzewski said, near tears. “They’re family. I feel bad they lost. I’m so proud those kids played at the level of their coach.”

There had been a warm, sweet, emotional embrace between teacher and pupil on the court afterwards.

“I love that man,” Dawkins said. “That man, without him, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Next Coach K tried to uplift Dawkins’ son.

“Aubrey was the best player on the court today,” Coach K would say. “You see him grow up from a little guy.”

And Johnny Dawkins was so proud of his little guy, who would grow to 6-foot-6.

“He’s capable of having moments like that,” Dawkins said, “and he had one tonight on one of the biggest stages you could have it on. He couldn’t have picked a better time for that for us.”

The Knights trailed by one after Zion fouled out Fall with 14.4 seconds left, missed a chance to convert the three-point play before RJ Barrett’s putback with 11 seconds left.

Dawkins called time with 7.7 seconds left.

“We got the shot that we wanted,” Taylor said. “I’ve been shooting that shot ever since I’ve been playing for Coach.

“It kills me that it didn’t fall, but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Aubrey Dawkins, minutes earlier, had let an easy alley-oop slip through his hands.

“Hands were a little sweaty. … That’s a play I should have made,” Dawkins said. “Things happen, you’re not gonna be perfect out there, so …”

The lessons Johnny Dawkins imparted on his son revealed themselves in the UCF locker room, when the boy answered every question like a man, a class act.

And the lessons Coach K imparted to Dawkins were not lost on Aubrey’s father when he told his son: “You win some, you lose some. You did all you can do. You control what you can control. And you gotta live with the result sometimes.”

Even when your heart is breaking.