Timmy Bowers put one of Mississippi State's greatest teams on his shoulders to beat Alabama 82-81, and win the SEC Championship. Not only did he score the game-winner, but also the game-tying shot (at a higher degree of difficulty) to send it into overtime. And in between those big buckets came several others that really cemented Bowers' legacy at State.
The 2004 team was incredible. Bowers, Winsome Frazier, Shane Power, Brandon Vincent and Lawrence Roberts formed a hard working, mentally tough team that held the mantra of 'Road Warriors'. Coming into the game State was 7-0 on the road in SEC play, and 13-2 overall. Kentucky, who had beaten MSU, was 12-3 and playing their final game the next day. To secure an outright SEC championship, the Bulldogs needed to win this game in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama was led by Earnest Shelton and Chuck Davis that year. They had already won in Starkville 77-73 two weeks before. The Tide came out firing and led by 18 points at halftime. It was a shocking turn of events as MSU had not let anyone pull away from them all season.
With 8:32 to play the Dawgs were still down by 16 (64-48), but State began a furious comeback kicked off by a pair of threes from Shane Power. With 3:06 left, Mississippi State had tied the game at 67. The rest of the game was scrapped out between two teams giving their all.
With :25 to play, State found themselves down again 75-70, but senior Timmy Bowers put a stamp on his legacy with a three and then he hit a jump shot at the top of the key after a Earnest Shelton missed a free throw. The game went into overtime.
In OT, Bowers had even more magic. Frazier had fouled out and he took an aggressive approach and hit a trey early in the period. Down 81-80 he drove the lane and got off a shot under the basket with :01 left. Roberts intercepted the hail-mary inbounds pass and MSU became SEC Champions.
2004 Mississippi State @ Alabama basketball (via sparky39762)
State received a '2' seed in the NCAA Tournament, but ran into a Xavier team who made the basketball turn into fire when they touched it. Alabama had better luck as they reached the Elite 8.