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Last-second tip-in dooms Stephen F. Austin's Cinderella run

jeff eisenberg
Senior writer

All Stephen F. Austin needed was one defensive stop to become only the fourth team seeded 14th or higher to reach the Sweet 16.

Then a little-known Notre Dame freshman came along and derailed the Lumberjacks' pumpkin-carriage ride to the NCAA tournament's second weekend.

Rex Pflueger, a guard averaging just over two points per game, scored the biggest basket of his career on Sunday afternoon, a go-ahead tip-in with 1.5 seconds left to lift sixth-seeded Notre Dame to a thrilling 76-75 second-round victory. The Irish advance to the Sweet 16 to face either second-seeded Xavier or seventh-seeded Wisconsin.

The outcome was heartbreaking for a Stephen F. Austin team that took down third-seeded West Virginia on Friday and appeared to be on the verge of doing the same to Notre Dame. If the Lumberjacks could have held onto a five-point lead with just over 90 seconds to go, they would have joined 2013 Florida Gulf Coast (15 seed), 1997 Chattanooga (14 seed) and 1986 Cleveland State (14 seed) as the highest seeds ever to make the Sweet 16.

Demetrius Jackson spearheaded Notre Dame's comeback with a layup and a pair of huge free throws to pull the Irish within one in the final minute. Then when Stephen F. Austin star Thomas Walkup missed a heavily contested runner with 23 seconds to go, Jackson called for the ball once again in hopes of finishing the Irish rally himself.

To its credit, Stephen F. Austin was ready for Jackson's drive and walled off the paint with multiple bodies, forcing him into a difficult shot. Unfortunately for the Lumberjacks there was too much time remaining and nobody left in the paint to put a body on weakside rebounders, enabling first forward Zach Auguste and then Pflueger to get second-chance opportunities.

Auguste's attempt drew iron but missed. Pflueger's bounced off the glass and in, sending the Notre Dame bench leaping into the air in excitement. It was Pflueger's only points of the game and the Dana Point, Calif., native's first field goal since before the ACC tournament.

Notre Dame becomes the fifth ACC team to reach the Sweet 16, joining North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Miami. Syracuse could give the ACC six Sweet 16 teams if it avoids an upset against 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee later Sunday.

Stephen F. Austin's crushing loss could serve as the end of an era for a program that has achieved incredible success the past three seasons. The Lumberjacks have lost only one league game in that span and have made the NCAA tournament all three years, upsetting VCU in 2014 and pushing Utah last March before this memorable three-day run.

With leading scorers Thomas Walkup and Demetrious Floyd both set to graduate this spring and coach Brad Underwood sure to be a candidate for vacant jobs at Oklahoma State and TCU, there's no guarantee that Stephen F. Austin can get back to this point again soon.

That only makes it all the more galling for the Lumberjacks to let victory slip through their fingers.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!