What was the craziest ending to a game you've seen?

I went to a game tonight that inspired me to write this post, so I'll get the ball rolling.

So George Mason traveled down I-81 to face in-state rival and my school James Madison. JMU had a 71-67 lead with 7 seconds left in the game. Start getting your things, the game is about to be over, right? Wrong.

With 7 seconds remaining in the contest, GMU hit a 3 and not only that, but the ref called an off-the-ball foul on JMU. Since George Mason was in bonus, the guy went to the free throw line. First one is good, second one also good. Great, so from up 4 to down 1 in the blink of an eye. GMU held a 72-71 lead and the arena was stunned. However, at this point, there was still a chance for a game-winning shot. Fans kept their hope and still cheered on.

On the JMU inbound, just as the ball was about to be thrown in, the ref blew his whistle once again. Time-out? Nope. Something on the court? Not that either.

He called another foul on JMU. Patriots go to the line and make both of their free throws. 74-71 in favor of the traveling George Mason Patriots. The students, fans and ESPECIALLY the head coach of JMU were livid. As a spectator, I wouldn't say the calls were blatantly wrong, but they were questionable. The game must go on, with JMU trying to drive down the court and heave up a 3, but our guard was fouled before he could've gotten a shot off (which was a very smart play by GMU, one that some teams forget to do and it ends up hurting them). The first free throw was made and the second one was intentionally missed, but GMU grabbed the rebound. The game eventually ended 76-72, with George Mason still having some magic for their basketball team.

Disclaimer: I'm not pinning this on the refs. We left a lot of guys on George Mason wide open and they hit their shots.

Anyways, what's the craziest ending to a game you've ever seen? Whether it's grade school, high school, college, NBA, at your childhood hoop playing 21, let's hear it!

Maryland and South Carolina; 1971. Terps led 4-3 at halftime (not a typo) on a buzzer-beater.

Maryland down 2 with 4 seconds to play in regulation and shooting a FT, Missed it but Jim O'Brien got the rebound and tied the game at 23-all (an offensive blitz by both teams in the second half).

Gamecocks went up 5 at 30-25 with 24 seconds to play in OT (this was long before the 3-point shot). An O'Brien bucket with 10 seconds left cut it to 3. Howard White stole the inbounds pass and Dick Stobaugh converted a layup 2 seconds later to make the score 30-29. O'Brien stole the ball on the final SC possession and hit a short jumper for the win.

South Carolina had won the previous meeting that season by 26.

Go to the 4:00 mark for a long-haired Manu appearance. Tracy McGrady takes over from there.

[video=youtube;L-Fo7-jLMNQ]

Does seen on Youtube count? I've watched that 1971 WKU Final Four game way too many times, and it kills me every time. The worst call in NCAA tournament history robbed WKU of the victory at the last second of the game. Absolutely wild finish. Beat Kansas in the 3rd place consolation game. Winning the natty that year, who knows where our program would be now? 0% chance we ever get a chance like that again.

I can tell you this. If Tri-Bama had come back and won that game the other night against Minnesota at the end , that would have been the all-time best ending.

16-yo SF remembers this one like it was yesterday.

December 9, 1978 --- UK vs. Kansas at Rupp. Cats down by six with 30 seconds left in OT. Freshman Dwight Anderson to the rescue...

1972 Olympic Final. USSR 51 - USA 50.

Watched it "live"(?)

The short version.

The longer, more complex story, is much more revealing than the "we wuz robbed" trope. I really had to let this one soak in. The USA team was just abused in practice and poorly coached. It may seem like the game was stolen, but the USA was ripe for a loss.

For a quick, well written read -

The 3 Seconds of the Munich Olympics That Never Seem to Run Out - The New York Times

1972 Olympic Final. USSR 51 - USA 50.

 

Watched it "live"(?)

 

The short version.

 

The longer, more complex story, is much more revealing than the "we wuz robbed" trope. I really had to let this one soak in. The USA team was just abused in practice and poorly coached. It may seem like the game was stolen, but the USA was ripe for a loss.

 

For a quick, well written read -

The 3 Seconds of the Munich Olympics That Never Seem to Run Out - The New York Times

The game had passed Hank Iba by.

Plus a lot of USA's best players chose not to play. Bill Walton, Keith Wilkes, Bob Mcadoo.

Stir all of that together and the USA was fortunate to be in position to win.

The part I do disagree with in the 3 attempts at ending the game was the 2nd and 3rd attempt.

Jones had no authority to demand that the refs put 3 seconds back on the clock. Right or wrong, he took over and acted as if he was the guy in charge and he was not.

The final attempt, the inability of the referee to communicate to Tom McMillan of the US so he could understand hurt the Americans. He was trying to show McMillan that he could not break the plane of the Out of Bounds Line. But McMillan took it to mean he had to back off completely from defending the inbounds.

One other I thought of was that Russia called a Time out after the made Free Throw. That was illegal at that time in IOC basketball. Yet they were granted the time out and the attempt to throw it in was botched and the whole fiasco started.