High Point Wildcats Celebrate Historic March Madness Win

High Point University has made headlines by achieving its first victory in the NCAA March Madness tournament. The Panthers, seeded 12th, pulled off a remarkable comeback against the fifth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers, finishing the game with a nail-biting score of 83-82.

This win is particularly noteworthy given that High Point’s schedule featured various mid-tier teams, which perhaps didn’t give them much chance to garner nationwide attention throughout the season.

After the game, head coach Flynn Kleiman had some strong words regarding the trend of top-tier schools avoiding matchups with mid-major programs like High Point. He remarked, “It’s clear that the high majors need to compete against the mid-majors at the start of the season. People said we didn’t play anyone. Well, we’re playing someone now.” He expressed confidence in his team’s talents, noting, “We know how good we are. But no one plays us, just like we don’t play teams like Miami. Yet here we are, up against a top team in the tournament.”

In a thrilling turn of events, after a missed layup attempt by Wisconsin’s Nick Boyd, High Point’s Chase Johnston sealed the victory with a decisive breakaway layup just 11.7 seconds before the final buzzer. Surprisingly, this layup was Johnston’s first two-point basket of the entire season.

With High Point leading, Owen Aquino then blocked another attempt from Boyd. Although Camron Fletcher was fouled and missed a free throw chance with just 1.8 seconds remaining, Terry Anderson intercepted a long pass meant for Andrew Rohde, sparking celebrations for the Panthers and their rookie head coach, Kleiman.

High Point has now won the Big South championship for the second consecutive year, gaining entry into the tournament. This victory marks their first win during March Madness, following last year’s first-round loss to Purdue.

In this game, Johnston contributed significantly with 14 points, including four three-pointers, leading a team that had previously been down by a considerable margin during the match.