While the NCAA tournament is the crown jewel of the college basketball season conference tournaments should not be overlooked, especially those in which only the winner will be headed to the NCAA tournament. That desperation to play one more day when the next loss means the end of the season is one thing that makes March such a special month.
Thursday afternoon seven-seed Radford and ten-seed Presbyterian met in the first round of the Big South tournament, and the two teams produced an thriller in Buies Creek, North Carolina. Gregg Nibert’s Blue Hose had never won a Big South tournament game since joining the conference in 2007, but that changed thanks to a DeSean Murray put-back as time expired to give Presbyterian the 65-64 victory.
The video above has the court side angle of the finish, and the embedded clip below is the television angle.
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It counted! Presbyterian beats Radford on last-second tip-in and PC gets 1st @BigSouthMBB tourney win. WU-PC Friday pic.twitter.com/uPl2HvJC93
— Bret McCormick (@Bretjust1T) March 3, 2016
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Murray’s shot came 7.5 seconds after Radford’s Rashun Davis gave the Highlanders a one-point lead on a jumper just inside of the three-point arc. Presbyterian had two shots at the win before Murray collected Janeil Jenkins’ missed shot and put the ball into the basket just before the final horn.
Presbyterian will play two-seed Winthrop in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
