2006 Northwestern State "Demons of Destiny"

Providing the Southland Conference one of its greatest seasons in recent memory, the 2005-06 Northwestern State Demons made it very clear that something special was in the works that year with early wins at Oklahoma State, at Mississippi State and vs. Oregon State. This was only a precursor to how the Demons would go on to dominate the Southland Conference schedule with a 15-1 mark, earning the right to host the Southland Conference tournament in Natchitoches. The Demons rolled to three more wins in the tournament to secure the Southland’s automatic bid to the NCAA championship.

Garnering only a No. 14 seed in the Atlanta Regional, the Demons were matched with the formidable task of facing No. 3 seed and Big Ten tournament champion Iowa at Auburn Hills, Mich. The game didn’t start favorably for the Demons as they fell behind 18-4, before rallying to take a brief 21-20 lead.  They trailed at the half 28-24. The Hawkeyes rebuilt a daunting lead in the second half as well, stretching their advantage to 54-37 with 8:29 left to play. Just when it looked like the Demons’ season was coming to an end, NSU’s Clifton Lee went on an amazing run, scoring 16 points in a 20-6 spurt that pulled narrowed Iowa’s advantage to 60-57 with less than two minutes to play.

As the game reached its waning moments, a Hawkeye free throw gave Iowa a 63-61 lead with 14 seconds left, leading to one of the greatest moments in NCAA tournament history.

The Demons had an initial shot at tying the game when Kerwin Forges’ two-point attempts rattled off the rim high and into the hands of NSU’s Jermaine Wallace. With only .5 seconds left, Wallace heaved a fade-away 3-point attempt from the corner that found nothing but net to give the Demons a 64-63 lead. After a desperation half-court miss by the Hawkeyes, Northwestern State owned one of the greatest comebacks in the history of March Madness.

Despite a 67-54 second round loss to West Virginia, the “Demons of Destiny” ignited a storm of national media attention for the program and the university that’s become historic. The NSU-Iowa game telecast is often replayed on ESPN Classic, and the game was ranked No. 22 among the “25 Best Tourney Moments” in the past 25 years by SI.com editors. ESPN.com editors listed Wallace’s shot among the “Top 16 Game Ending Plays” in the last 30 years of NCAA tournament history. The winning play also won the 2006 Pontiac Game Changing Performance award for that year’s tournament. Fan voting resulted in a $105,000 general scholarship donation by General Motors/Pontiac to Northwestern State.

VOTE NOW: http://tinyurl.com/SLCHoops50