An absolutely fitting end to his outstanding home career for a guy who believes in miracles.
For Jeriah Horne, practicing for a miracle is something that paid off in one of the all-time endings to a game in TU basketball history.
Horne made a half-court shot at the buzzer to lead Tulsa to a stunning 73-72 victory over UCF on Senior Day Sunday afternoon in front of 3,587 fans at the Reynolds Center.
''Me and AP (Anthony Pritchard) always shoot half-court shots, messing around," Horne said. "Before I took the shot, I thought, me and Anthony practice that shot all the time, and it just went down like that."
So what was Horne thinking right after the shot?
"DId I just make that? This is just nothing but God. That was all I could think about," Horne said. "He really just made this happen, last time playing here, on senior night, to finish my career here, and to go out on a half-court shot, a buzzer-beater, to win the game on Senior Night. All glory to Him."
Horne finished with 21 points and 7 rebounds in his third season of playing at TU. The sixth-year senior and TU graduate who came back to Tulsa to finish his career this season.
Darien Jackson was the catalyst behind the victory, playing his heart out while standing out for all of his 35 minutes, scoring a career-high 22 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the floor, including 3 of 4 on three-pointers. A great ending for the fifth-year senior and TU graduate who kept getting better all through his career.
"We're a team that doesn't quit, a team that continues to play until the end, and if you stuck it out and watched it, you saw the results," said Jackson. "Something finally went our way."
The fact that Tulsa even had a shot to win at the end was a bit of a miracle in itself. UCF seemingly had control for almost the entire game, leading by as many 14 points. After UCF got out to a 6-0 advantage, the Knights' lead never was less than that until a little over 4 minutes remained.
Tulsa (10-19, 4-14 AAC) never even had a shot to tie or lead the game until Horne's final shot in an unbelievable series of events in the final 10 seconds. Tulsa had cut the margin to 3 points at 66-63 with just under three minutes remaining, but could not close the margin until near the end.
Horne hit two free throws with 36.8 seconds left to close it to 3 again at 68-65. With TU electing to let UCF run down the shot clock, Darius Perry hit a terrific off-balance jumper to make the lead 70-65 with 9.9 seconds remaining, making things look really bleak.
A three-pointer by Sam Griffin with 6 seconds remaining closed the margin to 71-68, and TU had to foul twice to get UCF into the bonus. Seemingly typifying Tulsa's whole season, Perry's first free throw with 4.6 seconds remaining hit the back rim, popped up, hit the front rim, bounced around and went in.
But Perry missed the second, and TU called a timeout with 4.3 seconds left. Then UCF made a decision it will regret, and wound up giving TU a chance to win in regulation.
UCF (17-11, 9-9) intentionally fouled Griffin with 3.1 seconds left with the score 71-68. Griffin made the first one, and after a time-out, tried to miss the second one in order for Tulsa to have a chance at a rebound and tie or possibly win the game. But Griffin made the second free throw, making the score 71-70.
With no timeouts left for either team, Tulsa fouled Perry with 2.8 seconds left. TU trailed 72-70, Perry missed and set up Horne's heroics.
Horne rebounded, and, after making a terrific move to get by Perry to Horne's left, launched the running three-pointer from around 5-feet beyond half court, with Perry at his right.
A perfect swish, and Horne ran around happily before his teammates dogpiled him, with the crowd being in disbelief and euphoria.
"I told my dad before the season that I was going to hit a game-winner," Horne said.
Another key to the TU victory was Griffin, who had been struggling mightily the last few games. He scored his first points, hitting two free throws, with 10:35 left in the second half. From then on, he slowly got going, finishing strong with 15 points.
"It was unbelievable. Our guys, the last 4 minutes of the game, kept believing, kept pounding," said TU coach Frank Haith. Those guys kept believing. We've had so many things go against us, so many tough breaks, it's great for us to have something super to happen for us."
Darin Green and C.J. Walker each had 19 points to lead Central Florida, while Perry scored 17 points.
"To finish senior night like this, it's something that I've only dreamed of, and now it's come to fruition," Horne said.
Tulsa plays Wichita State in the first round of the AAC Tournament in Fort Worth.
