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| Frame grab from video shot by @HilltopperBlog |
Josh Harris drained a three-pointer as time expired as Illinois College rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final three and a half minutes to defeat the University of Dubuque 59-57.
Dubuque, one of three at-large teams from the American Rivers Conference to make the NCAA Tournament field, appeared to have the game well in hand when Sam Kilburg hit a three from just right of the top of the circle to go up 55-48, matching their biggest lead of the game. But Buzz Ritzel answered with a three on the next possession, and Ritzel found Jake Mazrimas for a wide-open three from the wing a little over a minute later.
After the teams traded missed shots, Kilburg picked Jahkeis Tippett's pocket and McCants finished with a dunk to put Dubuque (21-7) back up by three. Tippett responded with a tough turnaround jumper from about 18 feet out to cut the lead back to one at 57-56. McCants turned it over on Dubuque's next two possessions, one on a full-court baseball pass.
That set up the closing moments. IC (24-4) took a timeout with 13.2 seconds left and inbounded in the frontcourt, after which Dubuque used all three of its fouls to give to make it difficult for the Blueboys to run a play. On the final play, Illinois inbounded opposite of its own bench with two seconds to play, and Harris threw up a turnaround shot from about 30 feet out on the left wing. It left his hand with 1.2 to play and fell through the net at the buzzer, setting off bedlam at the Washington University Field House.
Illinois College wins on a crazy buzzer beater! Wow! Madness! #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/ZZ9ZZWBR2c
— Hilltopper: Washington University Basketball Blog (@HilltopperBlog) March 2, 2024
"I told our guys in the locker room I'm just really, really proud of this group," IC coach Steve Schweer said after the game. "We've had a lot of opportunities over the last couple weeks to fold in games. We've come back from halftime deficits in our in our last two that were championship caliber games, and we just continue to stay in the fight, and it hasn't always been pretty for us."
"My emotions are through the roof, honestly, I really don't have much (in the way of) words," said Harris. "Coach trusted me with the ball. ... I'm just grateful for the opportunity to get another day."
Mazrimas and Tippett tied for the team-high with 18 points, while Harris had 14.
"I think he's underappreciated," Schweer said of Tippett. "He's underappreciated by his teammates. He's underappreciated by me sometimes. I know for a fact that he's underappreciated by people who aren't in our program and there's nobody better for this to happen to in this game. ... You can say what you want about the offensive end, but he absolutely played incredible defense on their point guard, who is a four-year starter for them and one of their best players. And I thought that he just made life really, really difficult for him."
Kilburg shot just 4-for-1 and 1-for-6 from three point range to end up with nine points for the Spartans. Jaylin McCants led Dubuque with 21, going 7-for-19 and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc. Dubuque was 5-for-25 from 3-point range and 8-for-16 from the line.