A REMARKABLE shot in the final seconds saw Victoria claim the Under-20 Men’s title at the Foot Locker National Championships, defeating Queensland by two points in Ballarat over the weekend.

The gold medal match took place on Sunday, and with the two best sides remaining after days of play, there was plenty of anticipation surrounding the deciding contest.

With the game on the line in the last seconds of the match and both sides tied at 104 apiece, Austin Rapp knocked down a turnaround jump shot as the buzzer sounded, sneaking to an extremely thrilling victory to deliver his side the gold medal.

Queensland (104) def. by Victoria (106)

Victoria jumped out to an early five-point lead in the opening minutes, pushing the ball inside and finding plenty of success scoring in the paint. Having plenty of support from the home crowd in Ballarat, the Victorians held a 10-point lead at the first change, scoring 29 points in the first quarter alone and getting out to an ideal start.

Victoria continued to stretch the margin out to 15 points, before Queensland hit back with an 8-0 run of its own to make things interesting. The deficit got down to just three points at one stage, before Victoria got going again to close out the half strongly and lead by seven at the main break.

Momentum went back and forth in the third quarter, with both sides trading blows in an entertaining patch of basketball. Whenever Victoria looked to put the game away, Queensland fought back to remain in striking distance. The third term reflected the second in terms of scoring, with Queensland drawing within four points before Victoria broke away in the dying minutes of the period to lead by seven.

The final quarter looked as if Victoria was going to hold on, still leading by multiple baskets with less than a minute to play. However, Queensland injected a new level of pace in the dying stages of the contest, conjuring a remarkable turnaround with some clutch free throws. After a missed free throw with 10 seconds to play, Jaylen Pitman found himself free on the perimeter to tie the game up with a triple, which was a remarkable feat given Queensland was dead and buried just seconds prior.

Victoria still had one possession remaining, and used the timeout to advance the ball. It inbounded the ball to Rapp, who threw up a turnaround jumpshot without even looking at the hoop, and the heave was all net as the buzzer sounded. It was a shot that will go down in National Championship history, and single-handedly gave the Victorians a gold medal.

Rapp finished the game with a game-high 32 points, including the most important of the entire tournament, and will be remembered for hitting such a clutch shot.