With just five seconds to play in Thursday night's matchup between Ohio State and Penn State, the Big Ten's two leading scorers had 25 points each in a game that looked to be heading to overtime.
That was until Nittany Lions sophomore Tony Carr hit a shot to not only finish with more points than the Big Ten's leading scorer in Keita Bates-Diop, but hand Bates-Diop's team its first loss in more than a month.
Carr's miraculous shot gave him 28 points and Penn State an 82-79 win over the No. 13 ranked Buckeyes Thursday, as the conference's second-leading scorer got the best of Bates-Diop, who finished with 25 points of his own. The final three points of Bates-Diop's night came on a shot of almost equal impressiveness, as the redshirt-junior knotted the game at 79 before Carr ended Ohio State's brief glimpse of overtime.
INSANE FINISH IN COLUMBUS!
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 26, 2018
Tony Carr and Keita Bates-Diop were unstoppable down the stretch, and Carr had the final answer for @PennStateMBB at the buzzer to seal the upset over No. 13 Ohio State: pic.twitter.com/aoDBprnPRG
When the game was on the line, the two most productive scorers in the Big Ten played like it, but it was Carr that had the last laugh Thursday night in Columbus.
"Carr, we had no answer for him. I thought he controlled the game," Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the loss. "I think Carr is clearly a pro. I think he is going to be a first-round draft pick here at some point."
Carr, who entered the game averaging 18.9 points per game, exploded in the second half, scoring 20 of his game-high 28 points in the final 20 minutes against the Buckeyes. He shot a blistering 10-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-5 from long range, the last of which ended Ohio State's nine-game conference win streak.
Until the final shot, Carr was matched almost shot-for-shot in the second half by Bates-Diop, who scored nine of his 25 points in the final 2:07 of the game, connecting on all three of his attempts from behind the arc in that stretch.
Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers made a point to compliment Bates-Diop following the game.
"He has played great against us every year. He has been fantastic," Chambers said. "When he went down last year, I knew it was going to be tough on Ohio State. The shots he made tonight, they were unbelievable. They were contested. I mean, we were right there. We fouled him one time too, because we were trying to prevent him from making threes. He is a big-time player."
Bates-Diop's 25-point performance came just hours after he was listed as questionable for the game by Ohio State, dealing with flu-like symptoms. Bates-Diop said he knew he was going to play before he even arrived at the arena, and for the Buckeyes, it was good that he did.
The Normal, Ill., native got into foul trouble early in the second half, and missed about seven minutes of game action after he picked up his fourth foul with 14:41 to play in the game. He re-entered the game with 7:42 to play and his team trailing 67-54, almost single-handedly carrying them back into the game before Carr's miraculous shot.
Bates-Diop, though, gave credit to his teammates, particularly Jae'Sean Tate, for contributing to Ohio State's late run.
"As soon as I left my apartment, I knew I was going to play," Bates-Diop said. "Coach drew up plays with multiple options, and down the stretch I was the option on all of those. You just try to make the right play. Jae'Sean got a layup down the stretch too, so it wasn't all me."
Carr's shot dropped Ohio State to second place in the Big Ten (18-5, 9-1), with two home games against Indiana and Illinois separating a matchup between the Buckeyes and first-place Purdue on Feb. 7. Following that, Ohio State hosts Iowa before traveling to State College, Pa., for a rematch with the Nittany Lions, a matchup that will give Bates-Diop and the Buckeyes a chance to redeem themselves, and once again pit the two top scorers in the Big Ten against each other.
