Oklahoma forward Ryan Spangler found himself alone beneath the basket with the ball in his hands and three seconds remaining in a Big 12 Conference semifinal game against Iowa State. All he had to do was make the layup to tie the game and send it to overtime.
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But Spangler endured the nightmare scenario instead. He missed and walked off the court having to live with it for years to come.
The good news for Spangler and his teammates is the Sooners are pretty darn good and will definitely receive an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. He'll be back on the court with new life next week and he's only a junior. He can take another shot at winning a Big 12 title next season.
But that is probably little consolation in the immediate aftermath.
Spangler's miss certainly wasn't the only reason the Sooners couldn't pull off what would have been a mini-upset. They played from behind most of the night and scored on only three possessions in the final five minutes.
Iowa State, the defending Big 12 tournament champ, will face Kansas on Saturday in the championship game thanks to four players scoring in double figures. Forward Georges Niang led the Cyclones with 13 points. He missed a free throw on the other end second before Spangler's missed layup that would have given the Cyclones a 3-point cushion and forced the Sooners to attempt a 3-pointer to tie.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
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