Last year's NCAA Tournament champion Baylor Bears have been eliminated in spectacular circumstances in their March Madness matchup against North Carolina.
Baylor, which boasts two likely first round picks in this year's NBA draft in Jeremy Sochan and Kendall Brown, looked dead in the water with 10 minutes to play, trailing 67-42.
From that point on it was like a scene from a movie, as the Bears could not miss, while the Tar Heels committed silly mistakes as the pressure mounted.
Trailing by six points with 35 seconds on the clock, Baylor's Sochan hit a three, before North Carolina missed both free throws, allowing James Akinjo to tie the game with a three-point play to force overtime.
Against all momentum, North Carolina steadied in the overtime period, winning it 13-6 to ultimately prevail 93-86.
Boston Celtics capture record 18th NBA title
Jayson Tatum delivered a magnificent performance in Game 5 of the NBA Finals with 31 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, and the Boston Celtics capped a dominant season by cruising to a 106-88 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday to capture their first league championship since 2008.
Returning home off a 38-point Game 4 loss that extended the series, the Celtics bounced back with authority by leading the clincher from start-to-finish to put the finishing touches on an unquestionably title-worthy 2023-24 campaign.
After recording the league's best regular-season record at 64-18, Boston went 16-3 in the post-season to earn the 18th NBA title in franchise history, breaking a tie with the Lakers for the most by any team.
Jaylen Brown compiled 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Game 5 and was named Finals MVP. The All-Star forward averaged 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and five assists per game for the series in addition to playing lock-down defence on Mavericks star Kyrie Irving, who was held under 39 per cent shooting in three of Dallas' four losses.
Doncic: Mavericks will 'believe until the end' after avoiding Finals sweep
Luka Doncic's Dallas Mavericks will "believe until the end" after they kept their NBA title hopes alive with a Game 4 victory over the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics headed to Dallas on Friday with the chance to clinch a first NBA Championship since 2008, up 3-0 in the series and looking to get the job done on the road.
However, Dallas dominated on their home court, cruising to a 122-84 blowout victory that means Boston will have to wait until at least Monday to seal a record-breaking 18th NBA title.
No team has ever come from 3-0 down in an NBA playoff series, but Doncic says his Mavericks team will not let that deflate their hopes of pulling off a hugely unlikely comeback.
"Like I said at the beginning of the series, it's first to four," Doncic told reporters. "We're going to believe until the end.
"So we've just got to keep going. I have big belief in this team that we can do it."
Doncic was facing criticism heading into Game 4 after fouling out in the latter stages of the previous contest, but he led the way with 29 points on Friday to help his team ease to victory.
Kyrie Irving believes Doncic proved the doubters wrong with his Game 4 showing, saying: "I think he made a few people eat their words in a healthy way.
"I think what you're seeing is him just taking accountability as best he can at this point in his life. He's a young person, still trying to figure it out. I give him that grace.
"I think it's just lessons being learned. When he is locked in like that, not paying attention to the refs, he's a huge, impactful player for us and a great leader for us. We want him to stay consistent on that and not be too hard on himself either."
Brown: Celtics must 'reassemble' after missing chance to clinch title in Game 4
The Boston Celtics must "reassemble" after missing the chance to clinch the NBA Championship on Friday, says Jaylen Brown.
The Celtics headed into Game 4 on the road at the Dallas Mavericks looking to complete the sweep and seal their first title since 2008.
However, they were outplayed by their hosts, slumping to a 122-84 blowout loss to end their 10-match playoff winning run and leave them with work to do if they are to get over the finishing line.
The Celtics now head home with the opportunity to get the job done on Monday, and Brown has called upon his team-mates to bounce back from Friday's 38-point defeat.
"These are the moments that can make you or break you," Brown told reporters.
"We have to reassemble. We have to look at it and learn from it, and then we've got to embrace it and attack it.
"It's going to be hard to do what we're trying to do. We didn't expect anything to be easy, but it's no reason to lose our head."
Dallas dominated from start to finish in Game 3, holding an 11-point lead just nine minutes into the contest and never looking back as they stamped out any hopes of a Boston comeback.
Brown praised the Mavericks for their response to losing the first three games of the series, saying: "Give credit to Dallas.
"I think they played hard physically, and then they dominated the glass. I think that was the key that put a lot of pressure on us.
"And then we didn't make shots tonight, and I think that's where, you know, we allowed them to play free, once we get them multiple opportunities to make shots, and then also we didn't hit shots on the other end.
"We're going to look at the film and see where we can get better, and then go from there."
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