Wisconsin answered quickly with a bucket, and from there, it was all Badgers. Wisconsin men's basketball built a double-digit lead before the first media timeout. But No. 12 High Point never panicked. The Panthers continued to share the ball and knock down shots, trimming the deficit to just two points heading into halftime.
In the second half, High Point refused to let No. 5 Wisconsin pull away. The Badgers maintained a narrow lead, but they couldn’t create separation. With under five minutes remaining, Wisconsin led by eight and appeared to be gaining control.
Just as momentum seemed to tilt their way, a High Point hero emerged.
Three-point wizard
Chase Johnston caught the ball in transition and, without hesitation, launched a three from the March Madness logo — just three seconds into the possession. Swish. The deep shot cut Wisconsin’s lead to five and ignited the Panthers. The jaw-dropping, NBA-caliber shot surprised everybody but High Point.
They knew exactly what Johnston was doing.
A true three-point specialist, the graduate student entered the game shooting a remarkable 48.5% from beyond the arc, with 64 made threes on the season. He added four more against Wisconsin, three of them coming in the final minutes to keep High Point within striking distance. Yet, his most important shot wasn’t from deep.
In his final collegiate season, Johnston had been 0-for-4 from two-point range. Before the biggest game of his career, he hadn’t made a single shot inside the arc. He scored four points at the free-throw line, but every other point came from beyond it. When the moment demanded it, though, Johnston delivered.
Down 81-82, the Panthers got a crucial stop and secured the rebound.
The shooter didn’t hesitate; he took off, caught a pass from his teammate, and scored a breakaway layup to give his team a one-point advantage. This shot pushed High Point over the edge. His first two-pointer of the season couldn’t have come at a bigger moment.
First big dance win
The Badgers got one more chance, but Aquino blocked Nick Boyd’s layup attempt. The defensive stop sealed High Point’s upset and granted them their first-ever NCAA tournament win as they came out on top 83-82.
“It's tough to even put into words what just happened,” said Head Coach Flynn Clayman. “I couldn't be prouder of this team. In the summer, when we get those shot tracker numbers back, and there are 63 schools in the country that have it, and we're number one every week in attempts, they can talk about whatever we have, but we're working. We're selfless… and we're not just here to win one game, we're here to get to the sweet 16.”
High Point finished the regular season with a 27-4 record, including a 15-1 conference campaign. They won the Big South Conference to clinch an automatic bid to compete in March Madness. The Panthers were 10.5-point underdogs against the Power-5 Wisconsin program. But they proved they belonged on the big stage.
“It looks pretty obvious to me that high majors need to play mid majors during the season because they said we ain’t played nobody,” said Clayman. “We played somebody now.” High Point will face No. 4 Arkansas on Saturday in the round of 32.