DALLAS (AP) – When Pervis Pasco intercepted a pass with 2.6 seconds left, Kansas State appeared to have pulled off a big upset in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
Pasco was so certain of it that he raised an arm and started walking away in celebration.
Oops!
Pasco’s victory stroll abruptly ended when an official whistled him for traveling. That gave Colorado one more chance, and James Wright banked in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for a 77-76 victory Thursday night.
“I guess it was just meant for us to win,” Wright said.
Pasco is not the first athlete to find a wacky way to lose, and he certainly won’t be the last.
Joe Pisarcik’s fumble when the New York Giants had only to take a knee to win in 1978 against Philadelphia is often used as the ultimate example of a player or coach turning almost-certain victory into defeat.
Other famous entries in this hall of shame include former Cleveland Browns linebacker Dwayne Rudd and former Dallas Cowboys lineman Leon Lett.
Rudd threw his helmet after what he thought was a game-ending sack in September against Kansas City, but he was penalized. Lett dived on the ball after a blocked field goal should have given Dallas a victory in 1993, but the ball squirted out and was recovered by Miami.
Both blunders lead to game-winning field goals by the opposition with no time left.
From college football, Baylor went for a touchdown with four seconds left in a 1999 game it already was leading by three points. The Bears fumbled, and a UNLV defender returned it 99 yards for the game-winning score.
Kansas State was 3.3 seconds from becoming the first 11th-seeded team to win a game in the 7-year history of the conference tournament. All the Wildcats had to do was defend the inbounds pass.
Pasco knocked the first one out of bounds. Only 0.7 seconds came off the clock, so Colorado tried again.
Wright, who also threw in the first one, heaved a baseball pass down the right sideline. It went about 60 feet, over intended target Blair Wilson and right to Pasco.
He could have stood still, dribbled, passed or even thrown the ball straight up – anything but what he did.
The Buffs got another 1.8 seconds and a new inbounds passer. The ball was supposed to go to someone else, but Wright came off a screen and was wide open for the winning shot.
Pasco, a senior who had started all 59 games since transferring from a Florida junior college, didn’t comment after the game.
The gaffe was his only turnover of the night. He had six points and six rebounds in 31 minutes.
“You can’t really blame it on one thing,” teammate Matt Siebrandt said. “A lot of freak things took place.”
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