Wow. I was surprised when I flipped to CBS, expecting to see a Division I game, and saw Barton College playing in the Division II Men’s Basketball Championship. Even though they were five points down to Winona State, the defending national champion, with a couple of minutes left, it’s not every day you get to see a small school down the road – Wilson, NC – playing on national TV.
I’m glad I caught it. Barton fell to seven points behind with 50 seconds left, and then senior point guard Anthony Atkinson, who grew up in Wilson, commenced the best clutch performance that anyone is likely to see at any level this month. Atkinson scored 10 points and made almost every defensive play during those final seconds, including a breakaway layup as time expired to win the game for Barton. That kind of effort was fairly common during the tournament for Atkinson, who apparently just wanted to keep playing.
Update: Video of the final few minutes.
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