Men’s basketball season ends on half-court heartbreaker, 75-72

By Steve Lansdale

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Just like that, the Texas men’s basketball team’s season was over.

After guard Isaiah Taylor tied the score at 72 with less than three seconds to go, it appeared the game was headed to overtime. But as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson took an inbound pass, cut across the grain of the Texas defense and calmly launched a shot from about 49 feet, a good stride behind the stripe at the middle of the court.

Even Jesperson seemed to realize the remote chance of the shot finding its target, drifting toward the far sideline … until the ball hit the backboard and bounced in as time expired. Jesperson was mobbed by his NIU teammates, and the Longhorns’ season was over as they fell, 75-72, in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball championship.

Texas finished the season

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