Buzzer Beating Game Winner By UTEP’s Jordan Lathon Goes Viral

Last night, it looked like the UTEP men's basketball team would get their first conference win of the regular season. They led Rice by two points with just over 12-seconds left to play. However, a three-point shot by Trey Murphy III gave the Owls a 64-63 edge with only 1.6 seconds left. The Miners needed a prayer so head coach Rodney Terry drew up a length of the court in-bounds play. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle, and it can be seen at the 3:51 mark of the video below.

"Just the way we drew it up," Coach Terry said after the game. "First off want to say we probably wouldn’t have gotten this done tonight if we didn’t have the support behind us. Miner nation was great. The crowd gave us a lot of energy. We didn’t come out with a lot of pop to start. I don’t know what that was for, we just didn’t have a lot of energy to start the ball game, but our crowd really stayed behind us, and was really the difference in the game."

The buzzer beater by UTEP freshman Jordan Lathon went viral quickly. The game-winning shot was #1 on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays of the Day and it went viral on Twitter. KTSM sports reporter Colin Deavor had a terrific courtside angle for Lathon's dramatic finisher, which was the video used by ESPN.

Meanwhile, the MinerTV feed with UTEP radio announcers Jon Teicher and Steve Yellen was picked up by a number of college basketball Twitter sites, like Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, and March Madness.

Lathon finished the game with 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Fellow freshman Nigel Hawkins had a career-high 24 points for the Miners to lead the team in scoring. UTEP is now 6-9 overall and 1-3 in C-USA play. A game winner like that could help jumpstart the rest of conference play for Coach Terry. His three main freshmen continue to improve on the court and the Miners' next two games on the road against UAB (10-7, 2-2) and Middle Tennessee State (3-14, 0-4) are both winnable.