The college basketball season isn’t even a week old and fans everywhere are already experiencing the wide range of emotions that arrive this time of year.
On Friday night, when Temple defeated Villanova for the first time in 10 years, the men’s basketball team and its fans were certainly on cloud nine.
After Temple’s sophomore guard Damian Dunn knocked down two go-ahead free throws to give the Owls a 66-64 lead with just over one second to play, the Owls intercepted a full-court pass to seemingly clinch the win.
As expected, almost every Temple fan inside Liacouras Center stormed the court to celebrate the fulfilling victory. But moments later the court was cleared and those same folks returned to their seats.
Why? The game wasn’t officially over yet.
Upon intercepting the Hail Mary pass from Nova, Zach Hicks was fouled by Villanova’s Eric Dixon with .2 seconds left on the clock. So, Hicks stepped to the line and sunk two free throws.
A simple inbound by the Wildcats followed, time expired, and finally, Temple officially logged itself a win — one worthy of a second court storming.
It was an absolutely crushing way for bettors to lose as they had to watch their tickets become worthless twice.
According to Action Network, 56 percent of all bets on the spread and 57 percent of the money backed the Wildcats (-5). Another 90 percent of bets and 84 percent of the money had Nova (-230) on the moneyline.
