(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
The video of the last-second shot by Penn State's Talor Battle:
George Mason looked as if it had its first quality road win locked up with about five seconds to play, then Battle threw up an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to send the came into overtime.
Momentum suddenly shifted and Mason fans knew their season was about to come to an end. In overtime, Battle, who wasn't shooting particularly great until that buzzer beater, added eight more and ended the Patriots season.
Many people have been e-mailing me, asking why Jim Larranaga didn't intentionally foul to prevent the Nittany Lions from even attempting a three. Here is what a local PA newsite had to say about it:
"Patriots' head coach Jim Larranaga doesn't have his team foul when leading by three late in the game because it has defended the perimeter so well all year. The Patriots are ranked 14th nationally in three-point field goal defense."
Every coach has his or her own philosophy and anyone who has watched Larranaga over the years should know that he doesn't foul in that situation and it has worked in the past.
The guy threw up a prayer and it went in. That's college basketball, not really something you can work on in practice.
Regardless, we still saw a Patriots squad play the whole 40 minutes on the road, with the freshmen scoring 30 points and sophomore Cam Long leading with the way with 16.
Anyone excited for a backcourt next season with Andre Cornelius and Long?
Dre Smith started off strong, knocking down his first two three-point attempts. But then he went 0-for-6 from there to finish the game. John Vaughan and Darryl Monroe played solid but didn't come up big when the Patriots needed to make a play.
Louis Birdsong shuffling his feet on an in-bounds created a crucial turnover late that hurt Mason. If the younger guys didn't step up, who knows how this one would have turned out?
It's a disappointing end to one of those "what could have been" seasons, but it's hard to keep your head down with the talent on this squad and the experience they got this year.
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