A Minnesota high school basketball player delivered one of the most improbable endings imaginable on Tuesday night.
Oman Oman’s last-second heave off a missed free throw traveled the length of the court and into the basket as time expired, lifting the visiting Austin High Packers to a miraculous 56-55 win over conference rivals Northfield, who entered at No2 in the state’s Class AAA rankings and reached the state championship game in 2013 and 2014.
“It was just a reaction,” Oman, a junior forward of Sudanese descent, told the Austin Daily Herald. “I just got the ball, and I threw it up. Luckily it went in. It kind of surprised me. I was happy and everyone was charging at me. It was good feeling.”
Victory had appeared all but a handshake away for the Raiders when a Northfield player went to the line for two free throws and a 55-53 lead with 1.6 seconds left in the Big 9 Conference matchup.
But when Northfield missed both shots, Oman grabbed the rebound and instinctively chucked the ball roughly 80 feet toward his team’s basket.
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“I’ve coached a long time and I’ve never had that happened to me,” Raiders head coach Andy Berkvam told the Northfield News. “What are you going to do? He threw it 80 feet. It’s a one-in-a-million shot.”
The win lifts Austin to 4-0 on the season, according to the team’s blog.
