After two free throws from UNI’s Jeremy Morgan, who led the team with a massive 36 points, the Aggies doubled the lead again with a short jumper by House with 58 seconds left. Jones missed two free throws that could have put Northern Iowa out of its misery, then fouled out battling for the ball against Morgan with 28.5 seconds left. Morgan’s two free throws made it a 90-88 game. It got no closer. No. 11 seed Northern Iowa (23-13) was the better basketball team for 20 full minutes of the first half and nearly enough of the second to survive. The No. 3 seed Aggies (28-8) slumbered through the first 20 minutes, aggravated by the precision of UNI’s defense to the point of capitulation, then gradually worked the ball to the rim often enough to make a game of it. They seemed to be dead until they clamped on the desperation press. Instead of merely walking over the end line and taking turnovers, which would have forced the Aggies to consume time to generate points to fuel their comeback, the Panthers’ panic led them to try to slam the ball off the legs of pressing defenders. After it happened once, with Paul Jesperson throwing the ball to A&M’s Jones for a dunk, it stood to reason the Panthers would not do it again. But with the lead at 71-66 after Klint Carson’s dunk with 17 seconds left, it also stood to reason the Panthers would not commit a foul while Caruso drove through the lane for what should have been a relatively painless layup. Instead, Jesperson fouled him – not harshly enough to stop the basket, but enough to earn a call. The and-one play made it a two-point game, and then Washpun reprised Jesperson’s assist-to-Aggies turnover after becoming trapped in the left corner. Washpun never spent his dribble, just stood with the ball until he was close to a five-count and then fired it down off the court, where it was fielded by Gilder and turned into the tying layup. It wasn’t the sort of spectacular play that will place Gilder into the NCAA memory banks with Bryce Drew or Christian Laettner or Tyus Edney, or even UNI’s Ali Farokhmanesh from 2010. But Texas A&M still is in competition to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. That’s not a miracle. It’s not really even madness. In the end, it’s basketball. You play to the end, or you don’t get another game.
