NEWARK, N.J. — Either Duke reaches its first Final Four of the post-Mike Krzyzewski era, or Alabama makes its second Final Four in a row.Either Cooper Flagg achieves something Zion Williamson and Jayson Tatum could not in their lone years at Duke, or Mark Sears extends an electric career in the NCAA Tournament.Those are the stakes when top-seeded Duke and second-seeded Alabama collide in the East Region final on Saturday night.Duke (34-3) withstood a 35-point night from Arizona’s Caleb Love and beat the Wildcats 100-93 in the Sweet 16, as Flagg put up 30 points, six boards and seven assists. The Blue Devils are sure to have their hands full again with Sears, whose Crimson Tide (28-8) took the floor first on Thursday for a record-setting 113-88 victory over BYU.Alabama took 51 3-pointers and made 25 against the Cougars, smashing two single-game NCAA Tournament records. Sears was 10-for-16 from long range and came one triple shy of tying Jeff Fryer (1990, Loyola Marymount) for the individual tournament record.BYU, though, gave up 3-point attempts at a high rate all season. Duke has a stronger perimeter defense, holding opponents to just 31 percent on 22.2 attempts from 3-point range this year.”I think we have a great game plan going into the game,” Duke guard Tyrese Proctor said Friday. “And just not changing what we do. I think when we play together on the defensive end and stay connected, we’re the best defensive team in the country.”Sears was in a cold spell at 5-for-35 shooting from outside (14.3 percent) in his six games prior to Thursday. Crimson Tide teammate Chris Youngblood explained why he was shocked to hear Sears’ recent numbers.”All I know is when he gets the ball, the defense is collapsing on him, so it doesn’t even feel like he’s shooting 14 percent,” Youngblood said after the win. “Regardless, if he is or not, his gravity that he has on defense is something I never played with before.”Sears now stands at 2,833 career points between his seasons at Ohio (2020-22) and Alabama (2022-25). He ranks 19th on the Division I career scoring list and is within reach of No. 18 Larry Bird at 2,850.Sears is preparing to play his 14th career NCAA Tournament game. While Duke has a fairly young lineup, four of Alabama’s five starters — Sears, Youngblood, Grant Nelson and Clifford Omoruyi — are in their fifth season of college basketball.