With one second remaining in the championship game of the Top Gun Winter Challenge 14u Indi World Division, Earl Watson Elite's streak of six consecutive tournament titles appeared all but over.
Trent Bell's (5-8 2021 G, Gamepoint) bank shot runner from 15 feet gave Gamepoint Elite a 50-49 lead and appeared to give them an improbable victory over the No. 1 ranked 14u team in Los Angeles, per Indihoops.
Then, Malik Thomas happened.
In one of the most improbable and controversial finishes at any level, Earl Watson Elite threw a 75-foot inbound pass that was tipped into the 6-foot-2 guard's fingertips, which guided the ball into the basket from the foul line to beat the buzzer to give Earl Watson Elite a 51-50 victory.
The game's final shots have been viewed more than 100,000 times on social media as the miraculous shots went viral minutes after the final score.
"I just knew that we were going to win, we were not going to lose," said Malik, a 14-year-old player from the Inland area that is one of the top players in the 2021 class.
When asked if the play was designed for a tip, Malik credited divine intervention.
"God was the design," he said.
The shot spoiled what would have been an epic upset for a Gamepoint 14u team that had recently been christened the No. 1 team in San Diego by Indihoops, but were considered heavy underdogs leading into the game. Led by 6-0 guard Keavie Love and 5-9 guard AJ Burgin's 13 point efforts, the San Diego club erased Earl Watson Elite's seven-point lead over the game's final 3 minutes, setting up Trent's runner with one second left on the clock.
Onlookers and fans of the Gamepoint team cried foul on the final shot, which appeared to take longer than one second to convert, but an independent video of the shot posted later by the basketball highlight service Baller Visions appeared to show the shot out of Malik's hands with less than one-tenth of a second on the clock.
Malik scored a game-high 18 points for Earl Watson Elite, which also got strong efforts from 6-foot-4 forward Derrick Nettles and 6-foot-2 swingman Nick Davidson.
Earl Watson Elite charged out to a 20-9 lead early in the first half before Gamepoint closed the half on a 13-1 run to take a 22-21 halftime lead. Gamepoint pushed its lead to 30-23 before Earl Watson surged back ahead, taking a 45-38 lead with 2:45 seconds left, which set up the epic finish.
Earl Watson Elite advanced to the finals of the stout Indi World Division with wins over Team Inland and the San Diego Slayers in bracket play, while Gamepoint defeated Blue Chips Academy and Coastal Elite to win its side of the bracket.
The two finalists, Blue Chips, Arizona Power Select and Team Inland won their respective pools.
In the consolation finals of the Indi World Division, it was the new-look San Diego All Stars with a 56-43 win over One-on-One Elite of Rancho Santa Fe. SDA was led by Melo Sanchez, Gabriel Harrison and DJ Justice, who led a strong surge by the victors in the late first half to take control of the game.
One-on-One got strong finals performances by guard Cormac O'Brien and Matias Clotfelter.
