PROVIDENCE — Somewhere in the middle of Yale’s whirlwind second-half rally, when the Bulldogs were foaming at the mouth on defense, plowing bodies out of the way to grab rebounds, and clawing their way out of a 27-point hole, Brandon Sherrod stopped to take in the moment.

He had been directing traffic on defense, muscling up tough finishes on offense, and flexing muscles as a 17-2 run shifted the game’s momentum and pumped life back into the Bulldogs when it seemed like the credits on a season that seemed like a screenplay were about to roll.

When Sherrod walked to the baseline to take the ball from an official to make an inbounds pass, he took a deep breath and inhaled the atmosphere.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Center had gone from pin-drop quiet to a roar so loud that Sherrod could barely hear himself think.

He scanned the building, taking a mental picture of it all.

“I think during that moment I was just saying, ‘This is March,’?’’ Sherrod said. “This is why I love March. This is why I play basketball. This is what you live for as a student-athlete and as a college basketball player at the Division 1 level. At any level really.

“Just to have that energy and to have people rallying behind you and to be on such a fun run, we were really enjoying ourselves out there on the court and just feeding off each other. That was really great, but I had to take it all in and count my blessings. It was awesome.’’

Duke may have been a storied program trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the 29th time, but Yale refused to be a footnote along the way.

The Bulldogs’ Cinderella story ended with a 71-64 loss Saturday in a West Region second-round matchup, but the second-half scare they gave the Blue Devils was enough to leave them happy with the final chapter.

“I just tried to do what I could for my team,’’ said Sherrod, who scored a team-high 22 points. “It was a fun time. We had the home fans. It felt like a home game, and I was feeding off the energy from the crowd as well. We wanted to give them what they bought their tickets for, wanted to give them their money’s worth with the effort that we put in in the second half.’’

Between Grayson Allen (29 points) and Brandon Ingram (25), Duke’s star power was overwhelming from the outset.

The first shot Ingram knocked down — a 3-pointer that splashed so cleanly through the net it was as if Ingram barely noticed Justin Sears’s hand in his face — had Sears rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he backpedaled to the other end of the floor.

And that was just 21 seconds into the game.

“It was a little frustrating,’’ Sears said. “Allen as well as Ingram hit some tough shots, and all you could do was throw your hands up and say, OK, next play.’’

Hanging a career-high 31 points on Baylor made Makai Mason one of the tournament’s first-round darlings. It also made him a marked man in Duke’s eyes.

“Makai has been all over the news for the last two days,’’ Yale coach James Jones said. “Everybody and their grandmother has heard about him now, so certainly he wasn’t a surprise to Duke.’’

The Blue Devils kept as many eyes on Mason as possible. None of the 12 shots he took was easy. They bottled him up and held him to just 8 points.

Allen nearly outscored Yale in the first half. He went 8 for 11 from the floor, drilled four threes, and rang up 22 of his game-high 29 points. Ingram had 11 of his 25 before the break.

But as someone with more tournament wins than any other coach in college basketball history, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski knew better than to write off the Bulldogs.

“It’s incredible because people always believe in miracles during this time,’’ Krzyzewski said. “And they don’t believe that they’re ever out of it.’’

Down 23 at the half, there wasn’t much reason for Jones to complicate the message to his team in the locker room.

“The last thing you want to do is go out in your last game losing by 40,’’ Jones said. “No one likes the way that tastes.’’

Jones figured the Blue Devils would do what any team would with such a big lead: get comfortable.

In the second half, the Bulldogs pulled the cushion out from under them. Sears came out of the locker room a different player. His head wasn’t still hanging from the shots Ingram made, it was bobbing back and forth, ready for the challenge.

“Duke, they hit us with a barrage, a heavy haymaker they hit us with,’’ Sears said. “And we got in the locker room and we said, we have 20 more minutes to make a statement . . . Coach told us at halftime eventually they’ll start missing, go cold, and that’s what happened the second half.’’

Sears scored all 12 of his points after the break, going 5 for 5 from the floor after missing his first four shots.

“We played a little harder, got in their faces a little more, and eventually the shots stopped falling,’’ he said.

Sherrod scored 12 points in the second half, leaving fingerprints all over the Bulldogs’ comeback attempt.

“When we got on a run, it was kind of Brandon taking his man to the hole and bodying him and finishing strong, and he would get fouled and usually finish,’’ said Mason. “So yeah, we all fed off of those plays and just the energy that those brought.’’

Sherrod tried to find the words to describe not just the game but the season.

“It’s unbelievable, historic,’’ he said.

Sears knows Sherrod well enough to see Sherrod was about to get sentimental.

He smiled, “Don’t say magical.’’

Sherrod couldn’t help himself.

“Magical,’’ he said. “It’s been a dream. Yeah, it’s a dream come true.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.