So I have to admit that I was not getting to pay attention. The family had tickets to see the Tina Turner musical on Saturday. Obviously, with the Final Four on Saturday and Purdue playing, we moved our tickets to Thursday night. By the way, it was a good show – even Charlie said that he enjoyed it – the sign that a musical did a good job.
At intermission, I turned on my phone and looked and Indiana State was ahead 67-60 with 3 minutes to play. It looked like the Sycamores were going to claim the NIT championship in front of their home fans in Indianapolis. But then their hollywood ending turned into a nightmare.
Kadary Richmond cut the lead to 5 with a layup. Al-Amir Dawes cut the lead to three from the free throw line, and then tied the game with a minute with a three-point shot. Meanwhile, every three pointer the Sycamores shot would miss.
With a tie game, Julian Larry missed a three pointer from the corner, Jayson Kent got the offensive rebound but could not get the contested layup to fall. And then the Seton Hall Pirates took the lead as Dre Davis got to the basket and hit a layup.
With Indiana State struggling to find an open shot, they called timeout to call one last play. But unfortunately, Jimmy Chitwood was not in the huddle saying I’ll Make It. And Charlie and I grinned as the intermission lights started to fall as the second act got ready to begin.
The Sycamores got the ball into Isiah Swoope who tried to take a three from the top of the key, but Jaden Bediako stripped the ball. Swoope caught the ball, took a step back and fired, only for Bediako to block the shot again. Ryan Conwell for the Sycamores got the rebound and took it back outside but his desperation three would go off the rim, and Indiana State tried to tip in the rebound but that also could not find the basket.
Seton Hall had come back from 7 down to win the NIT – scoring the last 9 points to win 79-77. Congratulations to Seton Hall and Indiana State, who put on an amazing show in Indianapolis – when other teams decided to pack up shop and end their seasons, the Pirates and Sycamores decided that they wanted to keep playing this great game. And they both had memorable runs to the NIT championship that finished in a very memorable game. They both had fantastic seasons and probably proved they deserved more than they got this March.
Congratulations to Seton Hall, the NIT champions.