Woodbury Tip-In at OT Buzzer Sends Hawks to Second Round

After watching their in-state rivals, the Iowa State Cyclones, win in their first-round match up against the Iona Gaels, the seven-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes were desperate for a win in their match on Friday, March 18, against the ten-seeded Temple Owls. The Hawkeyes would play the 2 of 3 games of teams from Iowa, with the University of Northern Iowa Panthers playing later that day. The Hawkeyes would be led by four seniors in Jarrod Uthoff, Mike Gesell, Adam Woodbury, and Anthony Clemmons, as well as junior Peter Jok, Iowa's sharpshooter.
Throughout the first five minutes of the game, it was a pretty back-and-forth match up with both teams gaining leads as well as losing them. After that, however, the Iowa Hawkeyes began to show why they were the favorites in this match up, increasing their lead all the way to ten points 23-13 after two made free-throws by Jarrod Uthoff with 12:39 left in the half. However, the Temple Owls were not about to give up that quickly, battling back throughout the next seven minutes. With just 5:06 left, the Owls took back the lead and gained the advantage 33-32. Both teams battled hard for the next five minutes until halftime and by the time the first period had reached its conclusion, the Iowa Hawkeyes held a very slim lead 38-37.
The second half would prove to be very exciting. It did not seem that way at first, however, as the Hawks had a quick start and jumped to a ten-point 51-41 lead with 13:32 remaining. Once again, though, the Temple Owls proved their toughness and grittiness battling back to bring the game within two points with only 11 seconds remaining. The Hawkeyes had the ball, but they would soon crumble under the pressure and fail to put away the game, albeit some questionable calls late in regulation. With just 8 seconds left to play, Peter Jok was fouled. If he made both free-throws, it would make it a two-possession game meaning the Owls would need a quick basket, a foul, some lucky missed free-throws, and another shot for any hopes of staying alive. However, Jok missed the second of his two free throws making it a one-possession three point game with the Owls having the ball and eight seconds to drive the ball down and make a three. However, they missed, but, unfortunately to all Hawkeye fans, in a very questionable call, Anthony Clemmons was called for a foul as Quenton DeCosey put up a three, and he was able to make all three free-throws to tie the game. The Hawks were unable to score in the final two seconds, thus the game went to overtime.
In overtime, the Hawks got to a quick lead with two made free throws from Woodbury, and one from Uthoff. The Owls cut that lead back to one with a jumper from Josh Brown, then Devin Coleman got a quick steal from Gesell and passed it DeCosey who got an and-one after being fouled by Woodbury to put Temple up by 2. After empty possessions from both teams, Jok made his own and-one to put the Hawkeyes up 1 after being fouled by Coleman. After a turnover and a foul, Anthony Clemmons went to the line for the Hawkeyes with a chance to put them up three, but he missed his second one, and after Jaylen Bond rebounded the ball for the Owls, he got it to Brown who made a jumper to tie the game with 54 seconds left to play.
The last minute of the game was pretty hectic. First with 30 seconds left to play, Mike Gesell missed a three-point attempt with a chance to give the Hawks a lead and a tiny bit of breathing room, and it was rebounded by Daniel Dingle, who drew a foul from Jarrod Uthoff to put the Temple Owls in the bonus. He had a chance for a one-and-one but missed it giving the ball back to Iowa with 22 seconds left and most likely the last shot of the game. In a crazy play, Gesell scrambled and threw up the ball with very little time left and right as the buzzer sounded, Woodbury rebounded the ball and tipped it in to give Iowa a buzzer-beating overtime win in the first round to put Iowa teams at a record of 2-0 in the first round with UNI still to play later in the day.