Johnson hits game-winner as UC Davis men take down Hawaii in Big West basketball thriller
Aggies trailed in the final minute but rallied for their third straight win
TY Johnson hit a 17-foot jumper from straight on with 33 seconds remaining as UC Davis escaped with a dramatic 68-66 win over Hawaii in a crucial Big West Conference men's basketball showdown Thursday night before a frenzied crowd of 1,478 at the University Credit Union Center.
The win, UCD's third straight, keeps the Aggies alone in third place with a 6-3 record and moves them to 12-8 overall. Hawaii is now 4-4 and 12-7.
The see-saw game was tied seven times and had seven lead changes, but Hawaii took a 66-65 lead with 52 seconds remaining on a free throw by 6-10 Tanner Christensen.
However, Christensen missed his second attempt and the Aggies worked the ball to Johnson, who sank the game winner with a hand in his face.
As the Rainbow Warriors worked to take a game-winning shot, Johnson came up with a steal, but was fouled with 7.5 seconds left as he was about to break away for an easy score.
"I would have put it home if I hadn't been fouled," said Johnson with a wide smile afterward. "I would have dunked it."
Instead, Johnson went to the line, missed the first foul shot, but made the second to push the Aggie lead to 68-66.
Aggie head coach Jim Les immediately called a time out to set the Aggie defense for the final 7.5 seconds as Hawaii had to move the length of the floor to either tie the game or win it with a 3-pointer.
"We didn't want to give them a chance to hit from outside," Les explained.
"If we could stop that, the worst we could do is go into overtime."
The best laid plans don't always work to perfection.
Hawaii's Marcus Greene broke inside for a layup that barely missed at 0:02, but Christensen went up for the rebound and had what appeared to be an easy put back for the tie, but somehow missed it as time ran out.