LAS VEGAS—Whereas 90 % of the nation was asleep late Saturday night time, true insanity unfolded inside a three-quarters-empty area linked to a dingy off-strip resort and on line casino referred to as The Orleans.
With slightly below three minutes to go, No. 1 seed Utah Valley held a seven-point lead within the WAC Championship over No. 2 seed Cal Baptist and appeared poised to make its first NCAA Event look. Utah Valley had managed to carry Cal Baptist’s star guard Dom Daniels Jr. to only 14 factors on a tough 4-of-22 from the sector to that time, whereas UVU’s Jackson Holcombe had simply transformed and-one to culminate an 8-0 run that seemingly swung all momentum to that facet of the health club.
It’s March, although. As soon as the supernatural magic of this month begins to kick in, you come to study that video games have a tendency to not observe the standard scripts. This one actually didn’t. With Utah Valley nonetheless greedy a six-point lead on the two-minute mark, Daniels lastly linked on a three-pointer to trim Cal Baptist’s deficit to 3 factors. After which on Cal Baptist’s subsequent possession about 30 seconds later, Daniels drained one other 3-pointer to tie the sport at 60 with 1:16 remaining.
THIS. GAME. IS. TIED. 😤#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/GUzOFTmM0E
— California Baptist Males’s Basketball (@CBUmbb) March 15, 2026
A Worthy End
A questionable foul on Cal Baptist despatched Holcombe to the road for Utah Valley with 39 seconds left, the place the sophomore made 1-of-2 makes an attempt. Had Daniels not out of the blue turned nuclear on the proper time, possibly Cal Baptist would have had a little bit little bit of panic. There was none. With 17 seconds left, Daniels sank a 3rd 3-pointer in lower than two minutes to offer CBU an inconceivable 63-62 lead and successfully turned himself from zero to hero.
Utah Valley’s Isaac Davis misses a possible game-tying dunk 😯 within the closing seconds to permit Cal Baptist (which trailed by 7 with beneath 3 minutes to go) to clinch its first NCAA Event berth by successful the ultimate WAC sport ever.
That is March 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eQucBHYbPz
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 15, 2026
Nonetheless, 17 seconds remained between Cal Baptist and the NCAA Event. Utah Valley nonetheless had a determined dimension benefit and had been scoring at will inside for a lot of the second half and Cal Baptist nonetheless hadn’t actually discovered a viable reply for that. It seems, the Lancers wouldn’t must.
That is Why We Love March Basketball
Utah Valley guard Tevan Leonhardt drove left and tossed an alley-oop to ahead Isaac Davis, however the move was a contact too smooth, and Davis caught it too low to efficiently convert the dunk and was stuffed by the rim. Jonathan Griman secured the rebound for Cal Baptist and tossed it out to Daniels on the outlet move, who tossed the ball as excessive as he may in celebration because the buzzer sounded. As a substitute of Utah Valley making its maiden NCAA Event journey, it was Cal Baptist’s second within the lights as a substitute.
What made this traditional much more insane was that it was the final sport within the historical past of the WAC, which has supplied extra recollections for faculty sports activities followers than of us could understand. This event didn’t come with out facet drama both, after Utah Valley was almost banned from the event on account of unpaid league charges and needed to put $1 million in escrow simply to have an opportunity to play within the convention event because the league’s No. 1 seed.
It might’t be March with out drama, and The Orleans had drama this week within the highest order. At a time throughout convention event week the place the time begins to tug a little bit bit, Cal Baptist and Utah Valley placed on the present of the weekend.
