National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
IUPU - Ft. Wayne 71, Indiana 68
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Where: Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Officials: # Chris Beaver, # DJ Cartensen, # Courtney Green
Attendance: 11076

Jon Coffman, his voice nearly spent from a night of coaching his team to heights it never attained before, summed up Fort Wayne's biggest moment as a Division I basketball program succinctly.

"We sent shockwaves through the nation tonight," he said.

The Mastodons did that without question, shocking No. 3 Indiana 71-68 in overtime Tuesday night in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a college basketball game at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind.

When John Konchar stole an inbounds pass to run out the game's final 2.9 seconds, the Fort Wayne portion of a bipartisan crowd of 11,076 stormed the court to celebrate the program's first win over a Top 25 team in its 15 seasons as a Division I team.

"We knew we had a chance against them," Konchar said. "If we brought all of us together and worked our hardest, we could get a win."

The 6-foot-5 Konchar epitomized that all-in effort. Playing every position but center, the sophomore stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while working the full 45 minutes. Among his highlights were a first-half sequence in which he blocked a shot and raced downcourt to slam a lob pass through the hoop.

Hoosiers coach Tom Crean saluted Konchar's toughness and offered him up as an example for his team to follow.

"I told him he was the toughest guy on the floor," said Crean, who waited by the Mastodons' bench for the players to wade through their jubilant students and shook every player's hand. "We never matched it."

Fort Wayne (3-2) won the Summit League's regular-season title last year, but this was a coming-out party for the program. It was the first time Indiana (3-1) played a game in the city in nearly 50 years, and the game sold out in 40 minutes when it was announced this summer.

Coffman was appreciative that Crean even took the chance of bringing his national-championship contender to Indiana's second-largest city.

"There's a reason no one in college basketball does what he did tonight," Coffman said. "This was our Super Bowl. For him to bring his team to Fort Wayne ... they'll be talking about this for the next 50 years. We won this game before it started because of what it did for Fort Wayne."

The Mastodons wasted no time putting the Hoosiers through the wringer, answering Thomas Bryant's game-opening 3-pointer with 13 straight points and forcing Crean to use a timeout before the first TV timeout.

Fort Wayne led for 95 percent of regulation, establishing a 61-49 advantage with 9:49 remaining when Purdue transfer Bryson Scott drove for a layup. At that point, Crean ditched an ineffective man-to-man defense for a 2-3 zone.

The change nearly stole a win for Indiana. Fort Wayne's dribble-drive offense stalled completely against the zone as it failed to take advantage of an open seam at the foul line. The Mastodons managed just one field goal for the remainder of regulation.

Bryant sank two free throws with 19.1 seconds left to forge a 65-65 tie. Fort Wayne's last shot in regulation, a forced 3-point try to beat the horn, was wide left. It appeared the Mastodons missed their chance at an epic upset.

Instead, after the Mastodon's Kason Harrell and the Hoosiers' Robert Johnson swapped 3-pointers to start overtime, Fort Wayne didn't allow a single point for OT's remainder to an opponent averaging 96.7 points per game. Finally, Konchar snapped the tie by canning a free throw with 1:19 remaining.

Fort Wayne's DeAngelo Stewart, who stole the ball while James Blackmon Jr. was driving the lane in search of a potential go-ahead basket in the final five seconds, added both ends of a one-and-one to make the margin three before Konchar's clinching steal.

Scott scored 18 points and also defended Blackmon Jr. for most of the game, holding the 23-points-per-game scorer 10 points under his average. Harrell added 13 for the Mastodons, who won despite getting only nine points from their best player, point guard Mo Evans, before he fouled out in overtime.

Bryant finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers, while Johnson tallied 16 points, and reserve Josh Newkirk hit for 13. But they couldn't prevent Fort Wayne from becoming the top subject trending on Twitter, or the talk of college basketball for a night.

"We just had a bunch of composure within our team," Konchar said.

NOTES: Indiana is only the second ranked team to play at Fort Wayne in its 15 seasons as a Division I program. The first was Michigan State on Nov. 19, 2008. ... Mastodons G Mo Evans was named Summit League Player of the Week on Monday after establishing career highs in points (33), assists (13) and steals (5) Saturday night against UMass Lowell. ... This is the Hoosiers' third of four games in the Indiana Classic. They close out their participation in the event Sunday at home against Mississippi Valley State.
Top Game Performances
 
Indiana   IUPU - Ft. Wayne
Thomas Bryant 18 Scoring Bryson Scott 18
Josh Newkirk 3 Assists John Konchar 5
Thomas Bryant 12 Rebounds Bryson Scott 12
Thomas Bryant 5 Free Throws Made John Konchar 2
James Blackmon Jr 1 Steals Mo Evans 5
Juwan Morgan 2 Blocks Brent Calhoun 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Indiana 68 40.3 7-24 11-19 12 38 3 4 15
IUPU - Ft. Wayne 71 41.1 7-31 4-7 13 38 7 11 8