Ronrico White stepped back, set up and fired up a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Once it went in, he turned to the 3,412 UNC Greensboro fans and waved.
Little did the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga guard or anybody else know that the game still was far from being officially over.
After over 10 minutes of deliberation by the officials, they did declare that White released his shot before the shot-clock and end-game buzzers, and the Mocs claimed a 61-58 Southern Conference win at the Greensboro Coliseum.
White had a game-high 15 points, 13 in the second half. But none were bigger than the final 3, arched over 6-foot-6 guard Tevon Saddler, which gave the Mocs their sixth straight win, 22nd win of the regular season, 20th against NCAA Division I competition and a 7-2 road record in conference play.
UTC's Casey Jones had 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots to overcome a seven-turnover evening. Duke Ethridge had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Justin Tuoyo added seven rebounds and five blocks -- moving into second all-time for blocks in a season in conference history. He's four behind UNCG's Kyle Hines, who had 106 in 2004-05.
The Mocs will be the No. 2 seed in this week's conference tournament in Asheville, N.C. They will play Saturday at 6 against the winner of The Citadel and Furman.
"It felt good when it left my hand," White said on the postgame radio broadcast. "(Saddler) guarded my first move perfectly, so it just came down to me making a tough shot. I wanted to go with about six seconds left and take the last shot so they would have no chance, so I knew I'd have at least four or five dribbles and get it off quickly.
"It was a team effort. I'm just happy to make the shot for those guys in that locker room."
His shot masked what hadn't been one of the Mocs' better offensive days. They shot 37 percent from the field, had 16 turnovers to only four assists and were only 15-for-24 at the free-throw line. But they combated that by holding the Spartans (10-21, 6-12) to 37 percent shooting from the floor, despite the Spartans pounding the paint (30 points), scoring 12 points off the Mocs' turnovers and scoring 14 fastbreak points.
UNCG was only 13-for-27 on free throws, 8-of-19 in the second half. The Spartans were led by R.J. White's 14 points and eight rebounds.
The second half included five ties and five lead changes. The Spartans led 41-29 early in the period, but UTC responded with a 13-2 run, then used an 11-2 spurt to build a 53-48 lead with 6:19 remaining.
The Spartans scored the next five points. There were two more ties, the last at 58 on a free throw by Diante Baldwin with 35.9 seconds to play. He made the first and missed the second, and Jones grabbed the rebound. The Mocs ran the clock down to 11 seconds, called a timeout and set up White's game-winner.
The Spartans, who are the eighth seed in the tournament, would have moved up to No. 6 had they won Saturday's game, claiming the final bye.
"UNCG was ready to go," UTC coach Will Wade said on the radio broadcast. "I thought they out-toughed us, but we made enough plays down the stretch. We got good minutes from everybody we put in, so it was a good win, and all in all it was a good night.
"You have to be able to win those games, and it's rewarding when you get wins that way. We're going to have to dig some out in the tournament; we're going to be in some holes and some tough spots, so we're certainly going to have to be ready to roll."