With his team down by one point and 5.7 seconds to go in overtime, Western Kentucky senior Ty Rogers pulled point guard Tyrone Brazelton over just before inbounding the ball.
“Don’t be afraid to kick it to me,” Rogers said.
A shining moment later, as he weaved through the Drake defense, sure enough, Brazelton was brazen enough to forget the career-high 33 points he had scored and, through a double-team, flip a pass to Rogers on the deep right wing.
Move over, Tyus Edney.
Take a back seat, Bryce Drew.
Look at me, Christian Laettner.
Rogers, with two defenders in his face, buried a miracle 28-footer as time expired to send the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers (28-6) to a pulsating 101-99 overtime victory in the first round of the NCAA West regional before a sellout St. Pete Times Forum crowd that witnessed a bona fide thriller.
“You’ve got to love the NCAA tournament, don’t you?” WKU coach Darrin Horn said, looking thoroughly drained. “I think what you saw out there is why this is the greatest show on earth.”
Sure. Unless you’re on the wrong end of “March Madness.”
No words could have soothed the Bulldogs (28-5) after they stormed back from a 16-point deficit with less than 12 minutes remaining. Taking a tournament-record 42 shots from beyond the arc, they not only sent the game into the extra period, they held a four-point lead with less than two minutes remaining.
One free throw by Rogers and a three-pointer by Rich Central High product Brazelton tied the game at 96-96 with 1:09 left.
Leonard Houston’s free throw gave the lead back to Drake, but two free throws by WKU’s Boris Siakam made it 98-97 with 21.3 seconds to go.
Forward Jonathan Cox of Barrington, who led the Bulldogs with 29 points and 16 rebounds, was fouled battling for an offensive rebound and sank both free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining to set up the dramatic finish.
In the end, Drake perished at the hand of the very weapon that got it here — the three-pointer. While the Bulldogs made an effective 16-for-42 threes (38.1 percent), the Hilltoppers hit 14-for-28 (50 percent), including 6-for-10 by Brazelton.
And it was only fitting, on a day when a NCAA-record 70 three-pointers filled the air, a three-ball decided the game.
“I’m sure we’ll be seeing that shot a bunch,” Drake forward Klayton Korver said.
Probably in their nightmares.
Meanwhile, the NCAA dream lives on for Western Kentucky.
“It’s indescribable,” Rogers said.
