Andrew Davison has watched the shot at least 100 times. He shows every new visitor and every friend. He’s watched it frame by frame. He knows exactly when to pause and unpause so you can hear the buzzer sound after his release.
A couple of weeks ago he watched the entire game again.
“I was sitting here by myself and when I hit the shot, I got chills again like it just had happened,” Davison said.
Ten months later and people are still talking about the biggest shot of Davison’s life that didn’t count because of a cell phone timer. Tonight marks the first trip back to White Auditorium for Northwest Missouri State, the team that escaped with a 91-83 victory in double overtime in a game that should have ended in regulation.
Davison, a senior guard last year for the Hornets, made the infamous halfcourt heave at the buzzer to give Emporia State what everyone thought was a 69-66 victory.
“I just knew it was good,” he said.
It was like a scene straight out of a movie.
Marvin Lee tied the game with nine seconds left. Northwest Missouri guard Lance Sullivan missed a 3-pointer, and Davison got the rebound, dribbled to just beyond halfcourt and released the ball tenths of a second before the buzzer sounded, banking the shot off the backboard.
As the ball fell through the net, Davison took off running around the court, arms spread in an airplane pose as he was chased by his teammates.
“I think it was the fastest I’ve ever run in my life,” Davison said Tuesday as he watched the shot again at his Emporia apartment.
The officials reviewed the shot and since they could not see the backboard’s red light from the video, the correct protocol was to listen for the buzzer. Referee Tom Svehla decided he would use other means.
Svehla asked for a cell phone, determined there were nine seconds left when the ball was inbounded after Lee’s shot, and 15 minutes after Davison’s shot fell through the basket, Svehla ruled that it had taken too long.
“I was pretty upset,” Davison said. “I felt like we got cheated.”
Davison was so upset that he became overly aggressive and picked up two quick fouls in the first two minutes of overtime and fouled out. He had to watch the rest of the game from the bench as the Bearcats went on to win and the dejected Hornets went on to lose their next five games.
“I don’t know if it was just because of that, but I think it started it,” Davison said. “It’s crazy to think about what could have happened last year if maybe this didn’t happen.”
Davison and Emporia State seem to have made peace with what happened, although there’s still some bitterness there. Tonight is “cell phones for soldiers” at White Auditorium, and fans can bring old cell phones that will be recycled with the proceeds used to send prepaid phone cards to United States soldiers stationed overseas. It’s no coincidence the ESU athletic department chose the Northwest Missouri game to do the promotion.
The ESU basketball team has moved on, with most of the players who played a key role in the cell phone-gate game having graduated.
The Hornets are off to a 4-1 start as they enter tonight’s MIAA opener, trying to beat the Bearcats at home for the first time since Feb. 7, 2004.
“We’ll try to get them back for the rest of the guys,” Jeremiah Box said. “It means a lot more to some of the guys who were here last year.”
Davison has also moved on. He will watch tonight’s game and then leave for Minot, N.D., on Thursday. Davison recently signed a contract with the Minot Skyrockets of the CBA and will make his professional debut on Dec. 14.
Davison will have a new group of teammates to show the greatest shot he ever hit. Reliving the shot has never upset Davison. He still smiles every time he watches it.
“How many times do you get to see a game-winner halfcourt shot? ... You don’t ever get to see that,” Davison said. “And people that were at that game got to see that that night, and for 15 minutes we had won the game. It was a neat feeling.”