Those who didn’t stay up Tuesday night to see the broadcast or highlights online of Stephen F. Austin’s 85-83 buzzer-beating upset win over Duke were likely thrilled to see the headlines Wednesday morning. (Well, probably not if you’re a Blue Devils fan. Or one of the outliers who don’t like seeing underdogs topple a college basketball powerhouse.)
The TV play-by-play call by Fox Sports Southeast’s Eric Collins provided the punctuation for Nathan Bain’s game-winning layup which gave Duke its first home loss to a non-conference opponent since 2000. He captured the sheer excitement of the moment, giving voice to what so many viewers were saying and thinking themselves.
But it’s always fun to hear the hometown call from a school’s local radio network. And the Stephen F. Austin men’s basketball Twitter account has thankfully provided the audio of Rob Meyers’ play-by-play of the climactic last few seconds of the Lumberjacks’ unexpected victory.
“Bain on the breakaway… Bain ON THE DUNK, AT THE BUZZER! LUMBERJACKS WIN! THE JACKS HAVE JUST BEAT DUKE AT THE BUZZER!“
https://twitter.com/SFA_MBB/status/1199697780182323200
You can hear the unchecked joy and disbelief in Meyers’ voice as he processes what couldn’t have possibly happened but really did. The genuine emotion from Meyers makes his call even more special. This Lumberjacks team lost by 12 at Rutgers a week ago.
(Don’t be that guy who points out that Bain hit a layup, not a dunk. In the moment, plenty of people thought Bain dunked. The basket happened so fast. The question was whether or not the shot beat the clock.)
As is often the case for smaller programs like Stephen F. Austin, play-by-play isn’t Meyers’ only job with the Lumberjacks. (He also calls play-by-play for football.) Meyers is also the school’s assistant athletic director for business operations. Prior to taking that position, he was SFA’s sports information director, handing media relations responsibilities for the program’s 16 varsity sports. That’s probably a busy gig right now with many, many outlets surely wanting to talk with Bain, Kevon Harris (who led the Lumberjacks with 26 points), and coach Kyle Keller.
Unfortunately, the Duke radio call doesn’t appear to be currently available online. Let’s get on that, Learfield IMG College Audio…
About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.