With the score tied with just seconds remaining, Isaac grabbed an offensive rebound and buried it with a bounce off the backboard as the buzzer sounded to give Blinn a 56-54 victory over Murray State College at the Elite Eight Shootout on Sunday in Enid, Okla.
“That’s just a big-time play from a big-time player,” Bucs head coach Scott Schumacher said of Isaac. “He bailed us out of a tough situation we had gotten ourselves into.”
Blinn (2-0) led 27-19 at the half of its tournament opener and built a 13-point cushion early in the second half. Murray State continued to fight back, but the Bucs still held a 53-46 advantage with less than 3 minutes to play.
The Aggies went on an 8-1 run and tied the game on a 3-pointer with 1:12 seconds left.
(Pictured: Blinn College freshman Anthony Isaac)
From there, both teams had a chance to take the lead, but it wasn’t until Murray State’s Isaiah Lewis misfired on a long jump shot that the Bucs would put the game on ice.
Isaac corralled the defensive rebound for the Bucs and the forward quickly tossed it to sophomore guard Jadin Johnson. After Johnson’s layup attempt was off its mark, Isaac’s heroics saved the day.
“We played extremely hard,” Schumacher added. “I thought we guarded Murray State really well; I thought we made it really tough on them every time they had an offensive possession, and any time you win on the road it’s a good one. I’m happy for our guys that they were able to pull this one out in the very end.”
Isaac finished with 13 points, sophomore forward Jamine Charles and sophomore guard Nick Folk had nine apiece, Johnson tallied seven, and freshman forward Jaylin Payne chipped in six.
Blinn finishes its run at the Shootout with a tilt against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid at 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 6.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 44 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
