How about that incredible 60-foot, buzzer-beating 3-pointer Cedric Jackson hit last night to give Cleveland State a 72-69 victory over No. 11 Syracuse?
After Arinze Onuaku hit a layup to tie the game at the Carrier Dome with 2.2 seconds left, Jackson let loose a two-handed heave from 3-quarters away and the ball banked home for a 72-69 Cleveland State upset.
The Cleveland State players ran out onto the court to hug Jackson in celebration.
“It was just unbelievable,” said Jackson, who had been 0-for-3 from beyond the arc…”I’m just still so speechless. I still can’t even believe it happened. Normally that shot is always just a mess around shot, but never practice it in practice. So you know, it was just a prayer shot and thankfully it just went in.”
Big win for Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters, who had never before won at the Carrier Dome during his tenure at Rutgers. Here’s a look at his past games there with the Scarlet Knights:
Monday, W, 69-66
Feb. 2006, L, 86-84 (OT)
Feb. 2004, L, 63-61
March 2003, L. 83-74
Jan. 2002, L, 87-66
Waters, who led his team to a 20-win season and the NIT last year, was all over the morning SportsCenter with Hannah Storm talking about past defeats in Syracuse, including the one in 2006 when Anthony Farmer, then a freshman, hit a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to give Rutgers the lead, only to have Syracuse center Terrence Roberts answer with a game-winning 3-pointer on the other end, the only 3-pointer of his career to that point.
“I have never been a part of one of those types of shots, I had my head down,” Waters said of Jackson’s shot. “I told my coaches we were headed for overtime. I didn’t expect that to happen. Nobody in the house expected that to happen.”
Syracuse (9-1), which beat Florida and Kansas in back-to-back games earlier, lost for the first time this season.
