High Point’s Chase Johnston may be the least likely player in the entire NCAA tournament to hit a game-winning layup.
Until the final seconds of the team’s 83-82 victory over Wisconsin in the first round, the three-point specialist had not made a shot from inside the arc all season. In fact, he only tried Four two-point field goals.
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The opportunity to end a season-long drought presented itself, with No. 12 seed High Point trailing by a point and needing to defend and give themselves a chance to complete a frustrating bid. When Wisconsin’s Nick Boyd missed a contested breakaway layup, Johnston deftly leaked information in transition while the rest of the Badgers either crashed the offensive glass or were caught looking at the ball instead of sprinting back to the defense.
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When the rebound found its way to High Point’s Rob Martin, the senior guard already knew where Johnston was and wasted no time dribbling before delivering the pass. Johnston caught the ball at the three-point line, took two — okay, maybe three — strides and made the go-ahead layup with 11.2 seconds left.
“When Rob threw it, I was like, I gotta put it in the basket,” Johnston said. “I wasn’t really thinking about whether it was two or three. I just wanted to go in and win this game.”
Johnson’s improbable shot became the game-winner, followed by another key defensive play by High Point. Owen Aquino blocked another layup attempt by Boyd to secure High Point’s first NCAA tournament win in school history and help the Panthers beat either Arkansas or Hawaii in Saturday’s second round.
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Johnston’s layup was far from his only contribution of the day. The sixth-year senior came off the bench to score 14 points and hit four 3-pointers, including one in the final five minutes of the game.
His signature three-pointer went incredibly deep with 4:55 left in the game, cutting Wisconsin’s lead to 70-65. Minutes later, his 25-foot shot pulled High Point within one. His 3-pointer from the right wing with less than a minute left in regulation brought the Panthers within one point again, paving the way for his heroics.
The three-point bomb was exactly what High Point expected when Johnston arrived through the transfer portal two years ago. The former second-team All-Stetson guard and double-digit scorer for Florida Gulf Coast shot 40 percent from three-point range in his five full seasons playing Division I college basketball.
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Entering Thursday, Johnston was 64-of-136 (47 percent) from 3-point range this season. On Thursday, he passed Stephen Curry and moved into 22nd place in his career with 415 three-pointers made.
Johnson started the season as a mainstay in High Point’s starting five, but coach Flynn Cayman reconsidered when the Panthers got off to an 8-3 start and lost to middling UAB, Southern Illinois and Appalachian State.
“I really thought hard about what we needed to do because it wasn’t good enough for our standards in High Point,” said Cayman, whose team has now won 27 or more games in each of the past three seasons.
“I moved him into a backup role because our starting games were a little small. His willingness to step into that role and lead the way and then do what he’s doing at the end of the season speaks to how unselfish these guys are.”
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This season, Johnson has become a high-point version of former Oakland NCAA tournament hero Jack Gohlke, forcing opponents to guard him 30 feet from the basket and creating more room for teammates to penetrate. His greatest moments had come from beyond the arc, until Thursday, when in the final seconds of the biggest game of his life, he suddenly found only sunlight between him and the rim.
“It’s something you dream about,” Johnston said. “I remember playing basketball one-on-one with my brother in the backyard. We had our little lineups, picked the team we wanted to be, and tried to win March Madness. Now to be on this stage with these guys and be able to knock down a few shots and make layups, it’s something I’ll never forget.”
