This. Is. March.
The Chattanooga Mocs provided the most incredible moment — so far, and this will be really, really hard to top — of the 2022 conference tournaments in an unbelievable 64-63 win over the Furman Paladins in the SoCon Championship game Monday night in Asheville, NC.
The game went into overtime after Furman’s Mike Bothwell nailed a stepback three to tie the game 51-51 in the final seconds of regulation.
Furman with the ONIONS to force overtime vs Chattanooga in the SoCon Championship! #MarchMadness 🏀 pic.twitter.com/Q9LPxOlXPl
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 8, 2022
The craziness went up a notch in the extra period, with the teams trading impressive bucket after impressive bucket- and the way overtime included particularly showed that.
After Chattanooga’s A.J. Caldwell nailed a three to tie the game 61-61, Bothwell made a layup to put Furman back up in front 63-61 with 4.3 seconds remaining.
What followed was an amazing March moment.
Chattanooga’s David Jean-Baptiste made an extremely difficult, deep three with three defenders around him to put the Mocs in the NCAA Tournament.
https://twitter.com/thecomeback/status/1501017452561387520
An absolutely incredible game, and a fittingly incredible finish.
It’s hard to not feel awful for Furman here too. That’s a brutal heartbreaker.
Chattanooga — the SoCon No. 1 seed and now 27-7 on the season — advances to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. Furman was trying to get into the big dance for the first time since 1980.
[Photo Credit: ESPN]
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at Awful Announcing and The Comeback.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@awfulannouncing.com.