Noah Vonleh admitted he had no idea how he ended up with possession of the ball in the final seconds of the Portland Trail Blazers’ home victory on Monday night, but he still proved to be the game hero.

Noah Vonleh’s Buzzer-Beating Layup Lifts Blazers Past Spurs 99-98

The 21-year-old power forward scored an uncontested buzzer-beating layup to lift his team, who was missing resting starters Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, to a 99-98 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

”I didn’t know the ball was going to bounce that way,” said Vonleh, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. ”It just magically fell into my hands and we ended up winning the game.”

Watch Vonleh’s game-winner here:

From the looks of it, Blazers guard Shabazz Napier, who seemed to be playing in place of Lillard, was doing everything he could to help his team win as Portland still trailed by one point with six seconds left. Napier split two defenders and, perhaps accidentally, dribbled the ball off teammate Meyer Leonard’s knee.

Spurs forwards Kyle Anderson and David Lee attempted to grab the ball, but Napier ran back into the mess and tipped it near the basket, where Vonleh happened to be standing.

Napier scored a career-high 32 points on 9-of-20 shooting for Portland, which has now won three straight games (and eight at home) one day after Denver’s loss to Oklahoma City gave the Blazers (41-40) the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

Kawhi Leonard led San Antonio (61-20) with 18 points.

The Blazers gained an 88-87 lead with Napier’s 3-pointer before Bryn Forbes countered with his own 3 for the Spurs. A dunk from Jonathon Simmons and a basket by Kyle Anderson pushed San Antonio’s lead.

Following Pat Connaughton’s long jumper for Portland, his teammate and Blazers second-year small forward Jake Layman, dunked to trim the deficit to 98-97 with 12 seconds remaining. After San Antonio tossed an inbound out of bounds to hand Portland the ball back, and then came Vonleh’s big layup following the scramble under the basket that also left the Spurs confused.

”I have no idea what happened,” Spurs power forward David Lee said about the final series of events. ”It was one of those weird bounces, we looked at in on replay like 10 times and we still don’t know what happened. It was a ricochet play, it went off Kyle’s [Anderson] shin and someone’s leg … I can’t explain that one.”

The Spurs, who have lost two straight following a home defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, are second in the West behind the conference-leading Golden State Warriors. San Antonio will enjoy home-court advantage for its first-round playoff series against Memphis, who clinched the seventh seed on Friday.

In addition to McCollum and Lillard, the Blazers missed reserve guard Allen Crabbe, who missed a second game with a sore left foot.

Lillard set a franchise record with 59 points on Saturday night in a 101-86 victory over the Utah Jazz. He matched his career high with nine 3-pointers.

”We talked with Dame and CJ about what was best for the team,” said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, who convinced the two starters to take Monday night off. “I was more concerned about CJ because he’s played every game this season. That’s quite an accomplishment.”

Danny Green also returned for the Spurs, who led 76-71 going into the fourth quarter. The guard had missed seven games with a left quad contusion.

Lillard said the Blazers are going into the playoffs to ”shock the world.”

When he heard this, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich responded: ”Heck yeah! That’s the way he should be thinking.”

The Spurs play their final regular-season game on Wednesday in Utah, while the Blazers host New Orleans in their last game that same day. Even if Portland loses its final game, it can still finish the regular season with at least a .500 record.

”When I was in Milwaukee my first year we made the playoffs, we lost the last game of the season and finished 40-42,” Stotts said, adding that it’s special to do both – especially after being 11 games under earlier this season.

The Northwestern Wildcats pulled off a thrilling victory over Michigan on Wednesday night thanks to a spectacular last-second play that drove the crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston wild with joy.

Northwestern Beats Michigan with Amazing, Last-second Play

With 1.7 seconds remaining, Northwestern senior forward Nathan Taphorn tossed a lobbing pass the full length of the court to sophomore center Dererk Pardon, who caught the ball right under the basket and scored a layup at the buzzer to lift the Wildcats to a 67-65 home win over the Wolverines.

The home crowd immediately jumped their feet and stormed the court in jubilation. The victory also gave Northwestern its first winning record in the Big Ten Conference since 1967-68 and its first 10-win season in the conference since 1932-33, according to ESPN.

“I was looking around, I didn’t have anyone to hug. …I was looking for my family because it was a (pauses) special moment,” said Northwestern coach Chris Collins, choked up and emotional. “It was surreal the way it happened. It’s almost kind  of fitting when you’re trying to do something really hard. It takes exceptional things. …There’s always some luck involved. Guys got in the right spots. And Nate threw a great pass. Don’t the (Chicago) Bears need a quarterback.”

Pardon said he was stunned the play actually worked.

“This was just amazing for us and this program,” Pardon said. “I thought it was long, thought it was going out of bounds at first. When I caught it, I was like, ‘the rim is right there.’ We’ve never practiced that.”

Taphorn, meanwhile, said the following of the highlight-reel play, which was drawn up by assistant coach Brian James: “I just had to put my trust in Dererk. …My goal was to find him and give him the biggest hug ever.”

Although nothing is official until Selection Sunday, the momentous victory had several analysts stating the Wildcats (21-9, 5th in Big Ten) could make a legitimate run at this year’s national title.

Northwestern next host Purdue (24-6) on Sunday, while Michigan will visit Nebraska that day.

MADISON, WI – FEBRUARY 12: Vic Law #4 of the Northwestern Wildcats is fouled by Ethan Happ #22 of the Wisconsin Badgers during the first half of a game at the Kohl Center on February 12, 2017 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

John Gillon proved to be the hero of Syracuse’s Wednesday night home game, as he sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Orange to a 78-75 victory over the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils.

John Gillon’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts Syracuse to 78-75 Win vs Duke

Syracuse’s win came after three straight losses, and also snapped Duke’s seven-game winning streak.

As soon as Gillon scored the final basket — which came after the Blue Devils’ Luke Kennard missed on a jumper and Syracuse got the rebound — the crowd at Carrier Dome went wild and stormed the court to celebrate the thrilling win.

Tyler Lydon commandeered the rebound on Duke’s final shot. He passed to Tyrus Battle first, and then Battle fed Gillon for the game-winner, which came off the backboard.

Gillon finished with 26 points, and was 3-of-4 from the 3-point line. The guard struggled in the first eight minutes, his only shot being an airball. Battle, who fought flu-like symptoms the last few games, had 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

“The second half I thought Tyus (Battle) first really just attacked, he had a stretch there where we were really struggling and he made some unbelievable plays like he did the last game that he was healthy,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.

Kennard scored 23 points for Duke. Grayson Allen was just 2-of-11 from the floor and 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

After the game, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski disputed the notion that his program and Syracuse’s are rivals.

“I don’t think it’s a rivalry,” Krzyzewski said. “I think every game in this league, everybody has a rivalry with us. Everybody wants to beat us. It’s been that way for 25 years. That’s the human nature I live in. I have to be ready for that, and I have to have my teams ready for that.”

Coach K likely feels this way partly because of his affinity for Boeheim, who is his Olympic assistant.

“I love Syracuse and obviously I love Jim and his family,” Krzyzewski said. “Congratulations to him. You don’t know what a treasure you have with him. … He’s brilliant, competitive, loyal and he doesn’t need his ego scratched. He’s humble. I love the guy and I’ll be forever grateful for him. It’s hard for me to think of a rivalry with Jim or Syracuse.”

Syracuse (17-12, 7th in Atlantic Coast) have now boosted their NCAA Tournament hopes. The Orange next travel to Kentucky to play Louisville on Sunday afternoon.

Duke (22-6, 3rd in Atlantic Coast) will next visit the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday.

SYRACUSE, NY – FEBRUARY 22: John Gillon #4 of the Syracuse Orange drives to the basket during the second half as Amile Jefferson #21 of the Duke Blue Devils guards on February 22, 2017 at The Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse upsets Duke 78-75. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

Tyrus Battle had made just one of his first six shots on Tuesday night against Clemson, including missing a wide open layup with Syracuse trailing 76-74 with less than two minutes remaining.

Syracuse beat Clemson 82-81 with Tyrus Battle’s Buzzer-Beating 3

However, he ended up being Syracuse’s saving grace, as he hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift the Orange men’s basketball team to an 82-81 road victory over the Tigers.

Tyler Lydon drove the lane and Clemson fell apart, which allowed Lydon to find his freshman teammate wide open in the right corner to give Syracuse (16-9, 8-4 ACC) its fifth consecutive victory– with the last three coming in games where the Orange were down at least 12.

The Tigers didn’t realize Battle was in the game, a mistake Clemson coach Brad Brownell claimed happened when either the scorer’s table erred or his staff missed that Syracuse star Tyler Roberson was on the bench. Center Sidy Djitte stayed to stop a possible tip-in against Clemson (13-10, 3-8 ACC).

“We’re in trouble because he isn’t used to guarding perimeter players that often,” Brownell said. “He leaves the shooter and we lose on a last-second shot.”

Andrew White led Syracuse with 23 points. Lydon added 17 points and nine rebounds.

Jaron Blossomgame scored 20 points, leading five Tigers in double-digits.

Nevertheless, it was another crushing defeat for Clemson, who have now lost a pair of 1-point games in the ACC, a 3-point game in overtime and a 4-point game, all at home.

Officially, Tuesday’s victory was the 900th of Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s career. But Boeheim celebrated after Saturday’s win over Virginia Tech because unofficially, that was his 1,000th victory. The NCAA forced Boeheim to vacate 101 wins in 2015 due to rules violations. The Syracuse coach is now just two behind Bob Knight’s 902 wins for second-place all-time in Division 1.

Six of Clemson’s eight ACC losses have come by five points or less, which has led to some soul searching in the Tigers’ locker room.

“We’ve just got to know basic basketball principles. We’re up two points We can give up a layup. We can take the game into overtime. We can’t allow any 3s,” said Donte Grantham, who was nearly the hero after his jumper from the foul line put Clemson up two with 6.2 seconds left. “We’ve got to get tough. We’ve got to find some way to grit out these close games.”

Syracuse next travel to last-place Pittsburgh on Saturday, when Clemson will visit the No. 18 Duke Blue Devils.

SYRACUSE, NY – FEBRUARY 04: Tyler Lydon #20 of the Syracuse Orange shoots a 3-pointer to take the lead 39-36 during the second half against the Virginia Cavaliers on February 4, 2017 at The Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. Syracuse defeated Virginia 66-62. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

In probably the most exciting moment in little league basketball history, the Riley County Falcons were playing the Rock Creek Mustangs in the 8th Grade Basketball League Tournament’s third place game. The Falcons (white) were winning 26-25 with six seconds left: the Mustangs (black) were inbounding the ball for one last chance at a buzzer beater.

What happens next is one of the saddest things ever: a Mustang player beautifully drives to the hoop and attempts a buzzer beater lay up, only for the ball to get stuck on the rim. It is ruled a missed shot and since time expired, the Falcons won the game.

The look on the losing team’s faces is heart-wrenching.