04/16/24
March 25, 2007
Barton Wins D2 basketball championship in amazing fashion: With 45 seconds left and 7 points down, Barton comes back and wins the D2 championship. Anthony Atkinson scores 10 points in less than a minute to end Winona State's 57 game winning streak. One of the most dramatic finishes of any basketball game, let alone a championship game.
posted by urall cloolis to basketball at 11:04 PM - 11 comments
Completely insane. It is a shame the rest of the games have been so dull this year- they've been really great, hard-fought basketball, and in many cases great to watch for 40 minutes, but no real 'shining moments'.
posted by tieguy at 06:55 AM on March 26, 2007
Great ending. How does Winona State not call timeout with five seconds left to move the ball to halfcourt and play for a game-winning shot?
posted by rcade at 07:37 AM on March 26, 2007
I may be wrong but I think you can only make that kind of call in the pro's. Reminds me of Reggie Miller's heroics against the Knicks a couple of years ago. Shows what determination and defense can do for a team and person.
posted by coach at 08:00 AM on March 26, 2007
That was an amazing ending. I had to rewind that repeatedly because I couldn't believe what happened. It's pretty cool that D2 provided the best college basketball moment during the hyped up Tourney!
posted by bperk at 09:06 AM on March 26, 2007
coach is right about the half-court timeout thing (something that's always bothered me about the pro game, actually). What was most amazing to me in this is that the last 45 seconds, even with the free throws, only took about 2.5 minutes. Not a single timeout. Much more preferable to see that than a final minute that takes 10 minutes to play, with commercials interrupting the action.
posted by holden at 09:23 AM on March 26, 2007
A lot of coaches would argue for not calling the timeout there in the college game, figuring your guards have a better chance against a defense that isn't set. They can dribble through the chaos and either find someone on the wing, or get a shot for themselves. Particularly in a tie game, when if they don't get off the shot, at least you're going to OT. Unless, of course, you forget the lesson of Gold 5. ("They came...from...behind...")
posted by stevis at 12:04 PM on March 26, 2007
I was lucky enough to be watching this game with my son. It was absolutely incredible and gave us a great moment together. I was rooting for Barton, so it was even cooler. At the end, over that last 2.5 seconds or so, I was yelling at him to pull up and shoot -- I didn't think he had time to drive all the way and still get the shot off. And I felt even better that he atoned for missing the free throw. Just amazing.
posted by olelefthander at 05:28 PM on March 26, 2007
I'm with bperk....suweet!
posted by sickleguy at 08:19 PM on March 26, 2007
Atkinson also made buzzer beaters in the Quarterfinal game and Semifinal games- to win those games. In the Quarterfinal he made a 3 pointer with 4.2 seconds left, then in the Semifinal made a free throw with 1.5 seconds left. What a clutch player. A teammate, Mark Friscone, said "Ant" is by far the best point guard he ever played with, and possibly the best player he ever played with or against. Friscone happened to play AAU basketball on the same team with LeBron James. As a Barton Alumn I am still basking in the glory. I hope to see Ant playing in the NBA next year.
posted by urall cloolis at 08:34 PM on March 26, 2007
I was watching this game with about 6 minutes left and it was absolutelty AWESOME! Not only did Barton win, but Winona St. missed the repeat, and they went 36-1! What an awful feeling to mess up the perfect season in the last 45 seconds. Certainly an "Instant Classic." Nice job Barton.
posted by bavarianmotorworker at 06:44 AM on March 27, 2007
Wow. Just wow. Talk about everything going exactly right (or wrong, depending on your point of view). I can't imagine the feeling the guys from Winona State had when that buzzer sounded.