Jesperson Beats Buzzer With Halfcourt Miracle

The 11-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers were going into their first round match up against the 6-seeded Texas Longhorns with a lot of people believing they could, and would, pull off the upset. That just happened to be the trend for this Panthers team this season. They didn't get a high seed because they didn't play particularly well against opponents they should have, in all honesty, defeated with no difficulty whatsoever. However, they did manage an 11-seed after winning their conference tournament and pulling off major upsets earlier in the season against high-seeded teams such as the UNC Tar Heels and the ISU Cyclones. This team definitely had the talent and capability to win on the big stage. They also had a ton of motivation to win as the other two teams from their state, the Iowa Hawkeyes and the aforementioned Iowa State Cyclones, had won their first round match ups before UNI had even played. The Panthers would be led by seniors Matt Bohannon, Wes Washpun, and Paul Jesperson.
The game started out as a shocker for the Texas Longhorns, not necessarily myself because I've seen multiple occasions in which the Panthers have done this, as UNI outscored them by 8 points to take a 44-36 lead going into the halftime break. The Longhorns knew they would need to make adjustments and that this Panther team would not be an easy opponent to defeat.
Texas started off the second half well, going on a 10-3 run to cut UNI's lead to just one point in under three and a half minutes. The Panthers were shocked even more as the Longhorns continued the offensive pressure, taking a five point 55-50 lead with just 11:43 remaining. Throughout the rest of the half, the two teams battled back-and-forth over control of the game, with neither team really able to pull ahead. With just 11 seconds left, Wes Washpun was sent to the free throw line to shoot two with a chance to put the Panthers up by 3. Unfortunately, he missed the second free throw and the Longhorns grabbed the rebound, and with barely any time left Isaiah Taylor buried a jumper to practically send the game into overtime, where the Longhorns would most likely have all the momentum. However, Paul Jesperson was not about to let his season be decided in overtime. With barely any time left, chucked the ball from half-court in a desperation heave, and as the buzzer sounded, the ball banked in. This was yet another upset by the Panthers, who had now given the state of Iowa a record of 3-0 with probably the best shot so far this tournament by Jesperson.