David W. Smith/Daily News Western Kentucky senior guard Ty Rogers unleashes the game-winning 3-pointer Friday against a trio of Drake defenders in the Hilltoppers’ 101-99 overtime victory over the Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla. Click here for more photos from the game.

advertisement

TAMPA, Fla. — The dramatic finish to Western Kentucky’s 101-99 overtime win over Drake was stunning to some, but Ty Rogers saw it coming.

Days before Rogers became a Hilltopper hero Friday with his game-winning, 25-foot 3-pointer, he said he told teammate Matt Maresca that WKU would beat the Bulldogs with a buzzer-beating shot.

Click here for more photos from the game.

Maresca verified what seemed like a tall tale.

“That’s true,” Maresca said. “For some reason he had it in his head that we were going to win the game on a buzzer-beater shot.”

Rogers validated his premonition when he buried his bomb off a feed from point guard Tyrone Brazelton. After hitting the shot, Rogers pounded his chest, yelling, “I told you!”

“I just thought it might happen, let’s put it that way,” Rogers said, smiling.

Rogers was so sure of the bucket, Maresca said, Rogers even briefly ignored WKU coach Darrin Horn during a timeout as the Hilltoppers discussed their options when facing a 99-98 deficit with 5.7 seconds left.

“Coach Horn was just now starting to draw the play up and Ty was starting to point at me instead of paying attention to coach Horn,” Maresca joked. “He was pointing me out and saying ‘I told you, I told you.’ ”

With Rogers’ shot came instant fame: His picture was plastered on the main pages of Web sites such as ESPN.com and NYTimes.com only minutes later.

Recollections of Bryce Drew’s game-winning 3-pointer to lift Valparaiso past Ole Miss in a 1998 upset came to the minds of some Hilltoppers.

Drew’s shot routinely is replayed as part of Pontiac car commercials.

“This is going to be one of those plays you’ll see on commercials and the NCAA Tournament for years to come,” Maresca said. “It’s one of those things you see on TV and you never think you’ll be a part of. It’s awesome to be actually part of it, to say one day you were part of that team and part of that game.”

No matter what happens in Sunday’s game against San Diego or the rest of the tournament, the Hilltoppers know they added a dramatic chapter to this year’s tournament and WKU’s history.

“We definitely made ‘One Shining Moment.’ There’s no question about that,” WKU coach Darrin Horn joked, in reference to the tear-jerking song and video montage CBS plays at the end of each tournament. “Because it’s the NCAA Tournament, it’s going to be magnified and blown up.”

Before Rogers’ game-winning shot, Drake coach Keno Davis was concerned about a replay of another historic shot.

Former UCLA point guard Tyus Edney dribbled the length of the court with 4.8 seconds remaining and banked in a layup to beat Missouri in the 1995 NCAA Tournament.

“This time of year you see all those (past) highlights,” Davis said. “You think of the late games, whether it was Danny Ainge (who beat Notre Dame in the 1981 tournament) or Tyus Edney or those guys going the length of the court.”

WKU’s situation seemed similar to UCLA’s. Like the 5-foot-10 Edney, Brazelton is small (only 6 feet) but has a knack for getting to the hole.

Brazelton already had 33 points and had plenty of time, with almost six seconds left.

Instead, however, he listened to Rogers and let his teammate get his piece of WKU history.

“I grew up watching shots like (Bryce Drew),” Brazelton said. “You can only dream about it. You don’t think it’s going to come true, I didn’t even look at it until it went through the rim. I closed my eyes and it went in and it’s unbelievable.”