“(It was) one of the best championship games I have ever seen, but I wish it would have gone into overtime,” said Coach Palmer. On April 4^th, Villanova and North Carolina played against each other in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Men’s Basketball Championship game. Everybody has been anticipating this game for a while now after waiting through all of March Madness. The game was close through every minute of it, after the first half, the score was 39-34 North Carolina.

“It was a good game, it came down to the last shot,” said Camden George, 9th grade, who watched the game.

The final seconds of the game are counting down in the game and North Carolina has the ball trailing 74-71, 10…….. 9…….. 8. The ball is passed to Marcus Paige, he goes to shoot the 3-pointer to tie the game and a defender jumps in his way attempting to block the shot. Marcus then avoids the defender in mid-air and shoots the ball just in time before his foot hits the ground. Meanwhile the clock is still running 7…….. 6…….. and the ball goes in the net tying the game at 74-74 with 4 seconds left after a Villanova timeout.

“I knew that he would get the shot off, but I never thought that he would make the shot,” said Camden.

Two Villanova players, Ryan Arcidiacono and Kris Jenkins, rush down the court after passing a set up screen (where one of your teammates stands in front of a defender from the other team getting in their way of getting to you). Ryan passes the ball to his teammate Kris who is trailing a couple feet behind and Ryan sets up a screen for his teammate to attempt for a 3-pointer. With a second or two remaining, Kris catches the ball and takes his jump to shoot and with less than a second left in the game the ball leaves his hands. Everyone is on their feet watching the ball soar through air either hoping the ball goes in or does not go in the net. The buzzer goes off while the ball is still in the air and next thing you know, the ball goes in the net. All the Villanova fans are on their feet jumping up and down screaming, even the whole entire Villanova stadium is going crazy.

This game made Villanova the new NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion, and gave Villanova their second National championship as well as their first one since 1985. “I wanted Villanova to win this game because they would pull an upset and North Carolina has won a lot,” said Camden.