Oral Roberts wins on most unlikely buzzer beater of the year

December 13, 2011   ·   0 Comments

Oral Roberts wins on most unlikely buzzer beater of the year

Inbounding the ball underneath its own basket with three seconds left and the score tied on Monday night, Arkansas-Little Rock attempted to set up the winning play with full confidence that the worst possible outcome would be overtime.

Somehow, someway, the Trojans lost in regulation instead.

Oral Roberts junior Damen Bell-Holter intercepted an overthrown three-quarters court baseball pass from Tramar Sutherland of Arkansas-Little Rock, took two dribbles and heaved up a 60-footer of his own. Improbably, the 6-foot-9 big man’s shot banked in, giving Oral Roberts a 58-55 victory and stunning even radio play-by-play announcer Geoff Haxton, who had already proclaimed on air, “Let’s go to overtime,” as  soon as Bell-Holter broke up the inbounds play.

The shot by Bell-Holter had his teammates dancing on the court in delight afterward, and with good reason since it gave Oral Roberts a critical win. The Golden Eagles (7-3) lost at Oklahoma on Thursday and have road games against Gonzaga and Xavier still to play this week, so it was significant for them to find a way to win at Arkansas-Little Rock and avoid a potential losing streak.

“I think (senior forward) Dominique (Morrison) said it best when he said the basketball gods owed us one after what happened against Texas-San Antonio,” Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton told the school’s web site, referring to a November loss on a running three-pointer as time expired. “We probably didn’t deserve to win that game but sometimes you find a way to win anyway. We have a great saying on our court ‘expect a miracle’ and that is certainly what it was.”

(Thanks, Mike Houck)

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