Written by Kurt Voigt at KZTV10.com
Northern Iowa appeared all but ready to book its plane tickets to California for next week’s Sweet 16.
That was before Texas A&M put together the biggest last-minute comeback in NCAA Division I history.
Led by Alex Caruso’s 25 points and 22 more from Danuel House in the second half and overtimes, the third-seeded Aggies (28-8) rallied from 12 points down with 44 seconds remaining in regulation – 10 down with less than 30 seconds – to defeat the Panthers 92-88 in double overtime on Sunday night.
“Craziest game I’ve been a part of from beginning to end,” Caruso said. “Just an amazing game. This is what March is about.”
The previous NCAA record for coming back from a deficit in the last minute was 11 points, done by UNLV in 2005 and Canisius in December.
Crazy is a mild way to put the finish, something the Panthers (23-13) were accustomed to after reaching Sunday’s second-round matchup thanks to Paul Jesperson’s buzzer-beating halfcourt winner against Texas two nights earlier.
However, this time around it was Texas A&M putting together the last-second heroics on its way to reaching the Sweet 16 for the third time in school history – the first since 2007.
More precisely, it was a last 44 seconds in which the Aggies were able to atone for what had been a dismal previous 39 minutes and 16 seconds.
Down 69-57 after Jeremy Morgan hit two free throws with 44 seconds remaining in regulation, Texas A&M proceeded to outscore the 11th-seeded Panthers 14-2 from there – capped by Admon Gilder’s steal and layup with 1.9 seconds remaining that tied the game at 71-71 and sent it to the first overtime.
That 44 seconds included four turnovers by Northern Iowa, which was without its main inbounds passer Matt Bohannon because of a left knee injury, and a resurgence by House – who missed his first nine shots of the game and was scoreless until 5:14 remaining in regulation.
To continue reading this article, click here.
