Villanova Wins NCAA Championship With Amazing Buzzer Beater

Monday night, all of the madness came to a head to a head.

Villanova took down the University of North Carolina for the NCAA Championship by a final score of 77-74, thanks to an incredible buzzer beating three-pointer from Kris Jenkins.

The win is the first NCAA Championship for Villanova since 1985, and their second in school history.

With just four seconds remaining and the game tied at 74-74, Villanova's Daniel Ochefu sent an in-bound pass to Ryan Arcidiacano, who sent a pass to Jenkins, who ripped off the game winning shot as the buzzer sounded.

The game wasn't always in Villanova's court. At the half, North Carolina led 39-34.

The game began much as advertised, as the Wildcats and Tar Heels exchanged scores, staying even at 9-9 until Villanova broke through briefly to take a 14-9 lead.

North Carolina slowly ate away at the deficit, however, with a three point assault, going 7 for 9 on the half from beyond the arc.

For Villanova, Rob Arcidiacono, Daniel Ochafu, and Josh Hart shared the lead of the first half scoring with 7 points each.

Wildcat star Kris Jenkins earned himself two fouls in the opening minutes, leading to an early benching.

However, Villanova stormed back in the second half, going on several runs where they held North Carolina scoreless, and eventually retaking the lead with around 12 minutes remaining.

Villanova padded their lead to 10 with just five minutes to go, but a quick run from UNC, including a clutch three, trimmed that lead to just three, 67-64, with around three minutes remaining. The game was a nail biter from that point on.

Villanova led 74-71 with 13 seconds left when North Carolina's Marcus Paige drained a three pointer, to tie the game with just 4 seconds remaining in regulation before the fateful buzzer beating shot.

A huge boost for Villanova came from the bench as sophomore Phil Booth was Villanova's leading scorer, with 20 points.

The game's attendance of 74,340 was the second largest of all time in an NCAA Final, announcers for Westwood One said.

UNC is one of the nation's most storied men's basketball programs. They have won five NCAA tournament championships, tied for the third most all-time.

UNC easily advanced past upstart 10 seed Syracuse in the national semifinal Saturday, winning 83-66.

But it was Villanova that advanced with the most authority, utterly dominating fellow number two seed Oklahoma by a historic final score of 95-51.

Image courtesy Villanova Unviersity.