3-point buzzer-beater sinks 'Runners in OT
| Saturday, Jan 15 2011 10:44 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Jan 15 2011 10:44 PM
For Cal State Bakersfield, it was like taking a shot to the gut Saturday night.
Idaho guard Jeff Ledbetter drilled a 3-pointer at the final horn of overtime to give the Vandals a 78-77 win over the Roadrunners in Rabobank Arena, extending CSUB's season-longest losing streak to four games.
"You have no idea," CSUB coach Keith Brown said of the mental anguish of losing on a buzzer-beater. "Not just me. Those kids played their tails off. They made big plays. They grinded it out. They played together in the second half.
For the first time since CSUB (8-9) became a Division I program, three players topped 20 points.
Stephon Carter, who struggled on offense during the first three games of the losing streak, had a game-high 25 points, including a dramatic 3-pointer that banked in from the corner to end regulation and force OT.
Alex Johnson added 22 points and Donavan Bragg scored 21 for the Roadrunners.
"I didn't think that was going in," Carter said of his regulation-ending shot. "The basketball gods were with me on that one.
"But we lost, so ultimately that shot doesn't mean that much."
CSUB twice had six-point leads with less than 1:50 remaining in overtime. A 3-pointer by Idaho's Deremy Geiger made it 74-71 with 1:09 left, and Johnson turned the ball over on CSUB's next possession that Ledbetter converted into a breakaway layup, making it 74-73 with 40 seconds left.
Johnson hit two free throws with 30 seconds left to get the lead to three, and a layup by Kyle Barone with 12 seconds left pulled Idaho within 76-75.
Johnson was fouled in the backcourt. Normally a great free throw shooter, he missed the first attempt, made the second and that set up Ledbetter's game-winner.
"They did a real good job setting a screen for him," said Bragg, who was assigned to defend Ledbetter on the last play. "I was a step behind him and he got open by a couple of inches. He let it go and made it."
"We defended him well," Brown said. "Good players make plays, and he made one."
Ledbetter, a senior guard, said it was his first game-winning shot since high school.
"We had a play set up," he said. "We practice late-clock situations. I knew if I got an open look I'd hit it."
Idaho coach Don Verlin, an assistant at CSUB in 1993 and 1994 when the Roadrunners won back-to-back Division II national titles, said his team was fortunate to win.
"I've got to give Keith (Brown) and the Bakersfield kids credit," Verlin said. "They played harder that we did in the second half. They left it all out on the floor. We got a good shot at the end. Jeff's a good shooter and we executed it well."
Barone had 20 points to lead five Vandals in double figures. Ledbetter was next with 13 points.
The Roadrunners shot poorly in the first half and trailed 38-26 at halftime. Idaho (11-4), which won its fifth straight, made it a 14-point lead on its first possession of the second half before CSUB began chipping away.
