The Game Winner

6…5…4

The clock ticked down in Columbus, and Pitt’s point guard, Jaland Lowe, was the obvious choice to have the ball in his hands.

Lowe, through two halves and 4:54 of overtime play, had already scored 28 points — another career high — against Ohio State. This year, it feels like he’s setting new personal records just about every game.

He had already knocked down the game-tying shot in the final minute of regulation — a near-impossible floater over OSU’s Evan Mahaffey, who stands three inches taller at 6-foot-6 and touts a 6-foot-11 wingspan. Now, it was time to go win a roller coaster of a game for Pitt.

The Houston native dribbled the ball past half court right towards the Pitt bench. Was he heading left to drive to the hoop? Was he sprinting over in that direction so Jeff Capel could call Pitt’s final timeout?

“We wanted to give Jaland space,” Capel said. “We practice those situations, and we thought Jaland would be able to get to the basket.”

With 2.7 left on the clock, Lowe quickly turned back to his right, and without hesitation, fired a pass to his trailing teammate, Zack Austin.

“We also knew that there would be a lot of attention on him,” said Capel, about Lowe. “Again, for him to trust in that situation — there was a lot of attention, and for him to make that pitch to Zack, and Zack stepped into the shot.”

In the moment in which everyone in the stadium assumed he would take the last shot, Lowe looked elsewhere. He looked to his right, to the guy who in-bounded the ball. His teammate, Austin. The same player who hit less than 30% of his three-point tries last year.

However, it was also the same player who had made a clutch three from a similar location on the court minutes earlier. The same player who had drained four threes in a game for just the second time in his Pitt career already this game. The same player who Lowe has watched work on his shot over the past two years since arriving at Pitt. The same player who Lowe trusted.

Austin’s shot launched high in the air over the outstretched arm of Ohio State’s Micah Parrish. To the shooter’s left, Capel leaned over to try and get an angle on the heave. Was it going in? His brother Jason thought so. The Pitt assistant coach raised both hands in the air when Austin released the shot — before anyone else.

Austin himself landed after releasing the shot and eagerly leaned over with hopes of earning his first-career game-winning shot. Pitt scouting assistant Billy Hubly fell to the floor upon Austin’s release, awaiting the result that would come seconds later. Beebah Cummings, on the other wing, hunched over nervously as all of the noise in the stadium came to a halt and the ball floated towards the hoop.

Splash.

Pandamonium ensued.

Nearly the entire Pitt team — including Damian Dunn, who had sprained his ankle days earlier at The Greenbrier — took off in the direction of Austin, the game-winner.

Around the stadium, Ohio State fans instinctively broke into the infamous Surrender Cobra pose. So did Pitt’s Amsal Delalic, who appeared stunned by his teammate’s feat in the crazy game.

Pitt’s team videographer, Charles Gatewood, immediately left the baseline in a full sprint to capture the celebration with his camera. Pitt’s coaching staff, one by one, let out all of their emotions.

Hubly jumped back to his feet and clenched his fist. Capel threw his hands in the air, like his brother had already done, and let out a fierce fist pump. Kyle Cieplicki did too. Milan Brown ran over to Lowe seconds later and pointed straight to his star guard, before the duo embraced with an emphatic hug.

Pittsburgh radio host Jeff Hathhorn delivered an iconic call for 93.7 The Fan that could be faintly heard from afar through the stunned Buckeye crowd.

“ZACK AUSTIN!” shouted Hathhorn. “Oh my goodness. The Panthers win it!”

0.4 seconds were added back on the clock, giving OSU one more chance. The Buckeyes launched a full-court pass in a desperation attempt, but Austin, of all people, intercepted the heave.

The Pitt faithful in attendance once again erupted. The staff and team shook hands with Ohio State’s program members. Then, Capel led his group off the court. Before getting to the locker room, he stopped at the edge of the tunnel so he could high-five everyone in his program, who followed closely behind. One-by-one, each member of Pitt’s staff  jogged up to the head coach first.

Tim O’Toole shouted “Hail to Pitt!” to a nearby Pitt fan looking down. He high-fived Brown and Cieplicki there, along with Hubly, Gilbert Brown, and Daniel Anthony, who came through next.

Jason Capel came in with the team trailing behind him. Papa Amadou Kante, who had turned in what Capel called a game-changing performance, grabbed his jersey and popped it out, showcasing the P-I-T-T that read across the front to some fans above the tunnel. Pitt’s walk-ons followed, along with a yelling Dunn, who had a big cast on his right hand from his recent thumb surgery.

Austin blew a kiss to the crowd as he ran off. Ish Leggett flexed while he yelled out to celebrate.

“Hell yeah!” Jason shouted.

“Pittsburgh tough!” Brown added, as the players streamed in.

The final Panther to enter the tunnel was Lowe.

“Come on!” he shouted as he approached the staff members, who were waiting to give him a high-five.

There, Lowe locked eyes with his head coach.

The two leaders of this year’s team — Lowe and Capel — shared some words in private between the two of them. Then, they shared a loud high-five and an emotional hug.

Clearly, this one meant a lot to the program and its leaders, who closed the book on Value City Arena with the hug pictured below.

We won’t know the fate of this Pitt team for another 3-4 months, but we do know that this Pitt team, its coaches, and its fans will remember this moment forever.