Northern Arizona Lumberjacks basketball announcer Mitch Strohman called a game he’ll never forget Saturday.
The broadcast saw him call not one, but two incredible game-winning shots almost back to back.
The first “game-winner” against the Portland State Vikings came when guard Liam Lloyd knocked down a 3-pointer as time expired to apparently give the Lumberjacks a one-point win.
“Bang! The Lumberjacks win it!” Strohman screamed. “I can’t believe it! Oh my goodness, NAU wins the game on a 3-point shot!”
One problem: The shot did not win the game. Officials ruled there was still a fraction of a second, 0.4 to be exact, remaining.
You can guess what happened next.
On the in-bounds play, Portland State heaved a full-court pass. Isaiah Johnson caught the pass and in one motion banked it in from about 12 feet away. Portland State wins.
Strohman’s voice cracked as he made the call.
“Here’s the baseball pass, high up into the air, it’s caught! Oh my goodness, I can’t believe what I just saw!”
Hear a guy call 2 game winners… The insane shot to win from Portland State with 0.4 left came after a buzzer beating three from Northern Arizona pic.twitter.com/mI5RvyhLg1
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) February 11, 2023
And then, Strohman went speechless, undoubtedly stunned by the disappointing finish.
AT. THE. BUZZER.
WE’RE IN TOTAL SHOCK @psuviksMBB#ExperienceElevated pic.twitter.com/PBGRw8kF7u
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) February 11, 2023
Strohman has been the voice of Northern Arizona athletics for 26 years. This was a once-in-a-lifetime sequence of events.
Kudos to @mitchstrohman on the mic for being a pro and going Joe Buck (with a voice crack) to do justice to this UNBELIEVABLE ending!#ExperienceElevated https://t.co/MarffPrsXY
— Dan Satter (@BigSkyDeputy) February 11, 2023
[C.J. Fogler; Photo credit: Big Sky Conference]
