By:Patrick Hall Wednesday, 23 January, 2008

After one of Pratt's best offensive outings of the season and after outplaying Cloud County in most facets of the game, the Beavers lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer, 61-58. Pratt had tied the game with Brett Crittenden's three pointer with only 5.7 seconds remaining, only to have Cloud answer with their own bombshell.

In the closing minutes of the first half Pratt erased a nine point deficit to tie the game at 29. In what would prove to be characteristic of the game as a whole, the Beavers outplayed the T-birds in every aspect of the game except rebounding and free throws. Unfortunately, those two statistics would prove fatal in the end.

Pratt shot 42 percent from the field to Cloud's 29 percent in the first half. However, Pratt only hit 4 of 12 from the line, while Cloud scored on 6 of 9. Cloud also enjoyed a 26 to 17 rebounding advantage. The Beavers were excellent stewards of the ball, giving away only 6 turnovers to Cloud's 9.

The second stanza played much the same way, with the score within three most of the period. The game turned dramatic in the waning minutes with Pratt down four at 2:58.

Alex Rivas cut it to two with two free throws at 2:11. But Cloud answered with a bucket at 1:20. When Pratt missed on their next possession, Cloud called a timeout with :41 seconds remaining. The crowd began to depart, only to miss 41 seconds of pure highlight reel drama.

Jordan Hammond drove hard down the lane and picked up the foul with 19.7 left. He hit one of two to make it 55-58 in Cloud's favor. Pratt fouled immediately, and Cloud obliged the Beavers' intentions by missing the front end of a one-and-one. That set up Brett Crittenden's heroics with a perfect rainbow from the corner with 5.7 seconds left. It was tied at 58.

Cloud then drove the length of the court but lost the ball out of bounds with 1.3 seconds left. Coach Rolfs called a timeout to set up a length of the court play, but one of the few options that could give Cloud another shot occurred. Pratt threw the ball the length of the court with no one touching it. That brought the ball back under Cloud's basket with the same 1.3 remaining. They lofted a inbounds pass out past the arc, and with Hammond draped all over him, the Cloud player threw up a desperation three. It hit the back of the iron, shot straight up, and dropped through as time expired.