The ending of Thursday’s game between Austin Peay and North Florida was stranger than any Hollywood script could ever conceive.
Austin Peay’s Rashaud Marshall tied the game at 75 via a dunk with 19 seconds left in the contest at UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. North Florida called a timeout to draw up their potential game-winning play.
The Ospreys’ play, however, went awry. Sophomore standout Kent Jackson lost the ball on a drive, and it ended up in the hands of Governors guard Zyree Collins with just over a second left. Instead of putting up a heave, the freshman guard showed his inexperience by pulling a Chris Webber.
Collins called a timeout that Austin Peay did not have, leading to a technical foul on the Governors. North Florida’s Kamrin Oriol sank a technical free throw to push his team ahead 76-75.
YOU'LL NEVER BELEIVE THIS🤯🤯
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) February 20, 2026
Austin Peay and North Florida just had one of the CRAZIEST endings in CBB History!
Excessive Timeouts tech into a Buzzer Beater winner with under 2 seconds remaining pic.twitter.com/yo17YX5KqU
Austin Peay then took another page out of the college basketball history books, particularly the one about Duke star Grant Hill’s inbound heave to Christian Laettner for a game-winning shot over Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight.
The Governors threw their own full-court inbound that ended up in the hands of guard Anton Brookshire, who sank a floater to win at the buzzer. Austin Peay inexplicably won 77-76.
The stakes may not have been as high in Thursday’s game, but the Austin Peay-North Florida contest had a finish that we may never see for decades to come.
