The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Nathan Bain is becoming a regular feature on ESPN’s flagship programming and continues his fairytale senior season that has garnered national attention.

Bain raced up court to finish a layup just before time expired to lift his unranked Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks to an 85-83 overtime win over the No 1 Duke Blue Devils in the biggest upset in NCAA Division I basketball of the last 20 years.

The Blue Devils came into Tuesday night’s game favoured by 27.5 points marking it the largest betting spread for a no.1 seed to suffer a loss.

Duke had never lost to a mid-major team when ranked No 1 until Tuesday night’s loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. SFA’s win ended Duke’s 150-game non conference home winning streak. The last loss of that kind came at the hands of the St John’s Red Storm in 1999.

It was also the first time since 1983 that Duke has lost to an unranked mid-major team.

Bain finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals, all season highs.

Lumberjacks forward Gavin Kensmil came away from the scrum with the loose ball under the Duke basket and passed it to Bain who outraced defenders to finish the game winning layup just over the outstretched hand of Blue Devils forward Jack White.

“On the last play, I saw my teammates battling for the rebound. I knew he was going to get it, I was preparing myself to go into another overtime to go to battle against these dudes who I give credit to, Duke is the mecca of basketball so I give credit to them,”

Bain said: “But when I saw my teammate grab it, I looked up at the clock it was about 4.6 seconds so I thought to myself, “I had to get on my horse’ I know he saw me so I just had to go as fast as I can to get the layup, it was like a layup drill. I could feel dude on my back so I just laid it up and prayed to God that it went in.”

The Lumberjacks had one timeout remaining but opted not to use it with Bain’s clear path to the basket, despite just over four seconds left on the game clock.

“I was confident, I just wasn’t sure if the dude was going to foul me or not at the end so I just wanted to get it on the rim to give us a chance,” Bain said, “You do layup drills from the time you pick up a basketball and this is just another one, “but’s a different pressure when someone is chasing you down for the game.”

Duke suffered their first loss of the season and fell to 6-1 while SFA improved to 5-1.

“I was just thinking secure the ball, I glanced up at the clock it was maybe three seconds, so I just thought I had to get down there and throw it on the rim, the rest is history,” Bain said Wednesday morning on ESPNs Get Up morning show, “That was surreal, it was something you dream about as a kid, making a game winner.”

SFA forced 22 Duke turnovers and turned those takeaways into 22 points on the offensive end of the floor. The Lumberjacks rallied from a five-point 45-40 halftime deficit to force overtime FA then outscored Duke 41-36 in the second half.

The SFA bench made an impact by scoring 27 points to its scoring output. SFA took care of business in the paint, recording 26 of its 41 points in the lane.

Duke is already the third No 1 team in the AP Poll this season to lose a game, with preseason No 1 Michigan State and previous No 1 Kentucky falling within the opening two weeks of the season after the voters placed them at the top.

“They played harder than we did and were tougher,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “They had 64 points in the paint and forced 22 turnovers. They just played a lot tougher and better and deserved to win.”

Earlier this month, Bain was featured ESPN Sportscenter’s Top 10.

Bain scored seven points in the Lumberjacks’ 89-80 win over Niagara, but it was two that attracted the worldwide leader in sports. Bain pump faked a defender beyond the arch, drove the lane and finished with a one handed tomahawk dunk over a Niagara defender.

The play was the top play on “SC top 10” the countdown ranking the top sports plays across America on ESPN’s flagship programme.

As a true freshman, Bain saw time in 24 of SFA’s 34 contests.He posted averages of 2.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 7.5 minutes per game.

As a sophomore, he suffered a back injury that significantly shortened his 2016-17 season. He took part in only three games for SFA before getting sidelined and receiving a medical redshirt. As a redshirt sophomore, he appeared in 24 of the ‘Jacks’ 35 games and averaged 2.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.3 blocked shots in 6.4 minutes per game. Last season, Bain averaged 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in his junior season, both career highs.