Mason took their first lead, which woke up mighty Connecticut. The Huskies ended the half on a run that must have made the second half appear moot to a lot of people.
Very quickly the Patriots came back. The entire game, I was on the brink of tears. Sometimes my mind filled with the fairytale of the Final Four and at other moments I imagined the pain of coming so close, but experiencing heartbreak worse then anything I could have conceived a week and a half ago.
Mason took the lead and maintained a two possession margin heading down the stretch. With 10 minutes to go, Jim Larranaga made his final substitution of the game. The under-8-minute television timeout was missed. Jai Lewis, Will Thomas, Folarin Campbell, Tony Skinn, and Lamar Butler were already exhausted due to their frenetic defense and the struggle that was every offensive possession. They were facing the number 1 seed in their region. Connecticut, a two-time national champion, who the experts had predicted to win it for a third time this season, outsized Mason at every position. "UCONN has three players in their starting lineup that may be taller than any player in the history of George Mason basketball," I would later say. George Mason had never won an NCAA tournament game before this season.
Will Thomas was forced to throw up left-handed hooks and Mason's guards continuously shot fadeaways. They kept going in.
With four minutes to play, four consecutive timeouts, one by UCONN, one by Mason, and two television timeouts within a one minute span occurred. That gave Mason enough time to rest. With time running down, Mason looked comfortably ahead.
But missed free throws hurt Mason. Tony Skinn missed the front end of a one and one up by two and UCONN ran down the floor with 5 seconds left. Denham Brown took the ball baseline and under the hoop. Campbell missed a block by an inch. The ball bounced off of the rim once.... twice.... three times... and in. My body collapsed onto the floor. My muscles went limp. About watching the ball hit the rim three times with no time left on the clock, I said, "That shouldn't be allowed to happen to anyone."
Right away the thought was that Mason couldn't get it together to win. But we hadn't lost. We still were still in it.
George Mason would not go away. The Patriots took a four point lead after a Campbell fadeaway jumper. UCONN was not about to become victim to a miraculous upset. The lead was cut to two. Jai Lewis missed two free throws with 6 seconds to go. Denham Brown had the ball again, down by two. He entertained thoughts of driving the ball to the basket, but backed off for a three. The ball went up and was on line. My heart stopped. The ball hit the far part of the rim and bounced out. The next thirty minutes of my life are a blur.
"Unbelievable," was what went through the minds of most people. My brother told me, "I was cheering hard for George Mason the whole time, but I thought they would lose. This isn't supposed to happen." Well believe it, it happened! George Mason is in the Final Four.
The celebration of George Mason's Final Four run at the Patriot Center. The team is in the middle of the court with the regional championship trophy.
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