Austin Peay had the ball for the final possession.
With a miss, the Governors would go to overtime against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. With a score, Austin Peay would win.
Caleb Brown didn’t miss, breaking the hearts of 2,776 UTC fans in McKenzie Arena in a 70-67 victory for the visitors from Clarksville.
Brown and his teammates passed the ball back and forth to work most of the 29 seconds off the clock before he received it back, dribbled to the top of the key and buried a 3-pointer with two-tenths of a second to go.
“That’s not exactly how we drew it up,” Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. “Give Caleb, our lone senior, a lot of credit for creating a shot for himself and making it.”
Brown made only one other shot in the game and finished with six points. Josh Terry led all players with 17 points and Anthony Campbell added 15 for the Govs, who had squeezed out a 64-62 win at Saint Louis on Friday.
“That’s part of being a leader,” Brown said. “I had to step up for my team and show them I’m there for them.”
Sophomore Josh Odem led UTC with 15 points. Chris Early added 11, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 63, and Ricky Taylor tallied 10 for the Mocs (0-2).
“We had the ball last and our shot went in,” Loos said. “That’s why we won.”
But it was much more complex in the eyes of UTC coach John Shulman, who thought the Mocs lost by their play throughout the contest. They were out-rebounded 44-32 and allowed the Govs to turn 18 offensive rebounds into 16 points. That’s where Shulman said UTC lost.
“You always look at the last point-two seconds, but it wasn’t decided then,” Shulman said. “It was decided when we couldn’t get a rebound. We got stops but not enough rebounds.”
The game featured seven ties and 12 lead changes. The Mocs last led 59-58 with 6:44 to go but were never more than a possession down in the final five minutes.
The two teams will have a rematch on Jan. 3 in Clarksville before UTC begins the long Southern Conference stretch.
“That was like a high-level conference game with a good team,” Shulman said. “We can take a lot of things from this. Chris hadn’t been in that situation a lot. Omar [Wattad] was horrible for a long time, then stepped up and made a big 3.”
Wattad held the hero crown for a moment despite playing a poor game until the end. He tied the game at 67 with 29 seconds left on a 3-pointer from the right side.
“Coach called a play for me to get it and shoot the 3 or penetrate,” said Wattad, who sat out last year after transferring from Georgetown. “I have him an up-fake, a side step and knocked it down.”
Then Brown went down and stole the crown.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP