HOUSTON — Thrill rides often come without dependable brakes. Just when you’re cruising, the wind in your hair, buzzing around all those exhilarating hairpin corners, heart pounding, it careens off course.
The thing about special drives like that is the painful finality of things when emotions crash headlong into the guardrail.
San Diego State junior guard Lamont Butler grabbed the wheel before that could happen, impossibly snatching it at the last second, correcting course. His last-second jump shot for the ages and ageless — a deft dagger as the game clock expired — stunned Florida Atlantic, stunned NRG Stadium, stunned millions on TV and stunned all who are stun-able Saturday in an unforgettable 72-71 win that propelled the Aztecs into Monday’s national championship game.
“It’s unbelievable,” Butler said. “It’s what I came here to do. I’m glad the shot went in.”
Glad? There are about 1,000,000 more robust, fitting words for Butler’s icy-veins rainbow that splashed and caused those crammed into a 72,000-seat NFL stadium to lose their absolute marbles.
The Aztecs last led at 24-23 with 7:48 left in the first half. The Owls pushed the lead to 14 in the second half, fearlessly flying into the fray of San Diego State’s forest of ready shoulders, hips and elbows. Instead of coming out the other side with the muffler and bumper hanging like a teen’s first car, they calmly controlled things.
Then came the least roaring comeback, perhaps, in Final Four history. It came in drips, rather than a springtime flood. A basket here. A free throw there. A hustle stop.
Florida Atlantic’s lead withered more than melted.
San Diego State missed seven of its last 11 free-throw attempts in the final 6:45 of the game. The bluest-collared bunch in the NCAA Tournament began an offensive rebounding clinic — tripling the three they recorded in the first half — to machete a different path.
It was over … until it wasn’t.
Then came the ball off the fingertips of Butler that hung in the air for, what, a fortnight? A few rows into the crowd on the opposite side of the Aztecs bench, Butler’s parents, Lamont Sr. and Carmicha, struggled to explain the unexplainable.
“I held my mouth open until it went through,” Lamont Sr. said, displaying a wide-eyed, jaw-dropper of a face as a reference point. “I’m speechless. He’s been working on that all summer. For it to come to fruition, even the one against New Mexico (a last-second win this season), this is what he’s been doing. He’s built for this.
“He’s a quiet star.”
Tears flooded mom’s face.
“It was his time to shine,” she said.
As the team roared to the tunnel, legendary Aztecs coach Steve Fisher slapped hands with the trailblazers sprinting past. When Butler raced by him, he explained his initial thought as the final shot was suspended in the air.
“Good as gold,” said Fisher, who won the 1989 title as coach of Michigan against Seton Hall. “I told (SDSU Athletic Director J.D.) Wicker that with about 25 seconds to go (in 1989), Seton Hall had the ball, one point ahead. We debated, should we foul? Should we not foul? We decided not to foul. They missed it without six, seven seconds to go and Rumeal (Robinson) drove and got fouled.
“I said, ‘This will happen for you.’ It didn’t happen quite that way (vs. FAU), but it happened.”
Another thing about thrill rides: They attract thrill seekers.
All of San Diego gleefully buckled up for its share of Maalox, from the thousands of fans who made the trip to Houston to Manny Machado, Bob Melvin and the Padres wearing Kawhi Leonard-supplied Aztecs basketball jerseys 1,300 miles away at Petco Park.
In a city starved for the big moment on the big stage, the Padres tried to sate the ravenous appetite with a single postseason run to the NL Championship Series last fall. Real sports cities demand more than a one-act play, however.
San Diego State filled the gap — and might just finish the job.
The nation wondered aloud if a team that valued defense first and always could climb past offensive obstacles to summit the “One Shining Moment” mountaintop. They debated whether San Diego, the sports bridesmaid still hunting for the white dress, was doomed to getting close without a cigar in sight.
“We found a way,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said.
And what a way they found. On April Fool’s Day, of all things.
These Aztecs are not wired to come back from double digits offensively, or so we thought. Generally, they grind you down on the other end of the floor until all that’s left is fine pulp, turning legs into Jell-O when the final minutes arrive.
Some of that happened, without a doubt. But they found the points they needed, as well. Senior Matt Bradley, who had been struggling, poured in 21. Houston hometowner Jaedon LeDee chipped in 12. Aguek Arop scored nine, but it seemed as if all of it came when the mission turned most critical.
None of it resembled fine art with the Aztecs missed nine of 22 free throws. The Owls seemingly shot with one wing in huge moments, too.
“Just have to trust in your routine,” Dutcher said. “We made enough to win. Obviously you want to make them all. They missed a couple of timely ones, too. And that’s basketball. That’s pressure. That’s game on the line, step up and make them. It’s hard to do.”
Instead of misfired free throws and missed opportunities haunting this team and its fans into old age, a good-as-gold jump shot true enough to keep a dream like few others alive and rewarded a with the sports patience of a watchmaker.
Does it get any better for San Diego? Can it? First, the Padres obliterated the script for a sleepy seaside place more head-and-heart connected to sunsets than sports for decades. Then the Aztecs — the Aztecs! — decided they might just need to one up them.
“I don’t even know what to say right now,” Bradley gushed. “This is crazy. Who would’ve imagined, but us?”
Thrill rides, man.
Buckle up, San Diego. There’s one more.
