Cal Baptist Wins WAC In Instant Classic Over Utah Valley

LAS VEGAS—While 90 percent of the country was asleep late Saturday night, true madness unfolded inside a three-quarters-empty arena connected to a dingy off-strip hotel and casino called The Orleans.

(Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images)

With just under three minutes to go, No. 1 seed Utah Valley held a seven-point lead in the WAC Championship over No. 2 seed Cal Baptist and appeared poised to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance. Utah Valley had managed to hold Cal Baptist’s star guard Dom Daniels Jr. to just 14 points on a rough 4-of-22 from the field to that point, while UVU’s Jackson Holcombe had just converted and-one to culminate an 8-0 run that seemingly swung all momentum to that side of the gym.

It’s March, though. Once the supernatural magic of this month starts to kick in, you come to learn that games tend not to follow the traditional scripts. This one certainly didn’t. With Utah Valley still grasping a six-point lead at the two-minute mark, Daniels finally connected on a three-pointer to trim Cal Baptist’s deficit to three points. And then on Cal Baptist’s next possession about 30 seconds later, Daniels drained another 3-pointer to tie the game at 60 with 1:16 remaining.

THIS. GAME. IS. TIED. #LanceUp pic.twitter.com/GUzOFTmM0E

— California Baptist Men’s Basketball (@CBUmbb) March 15, 2026

A Worthy Finish

A questionable foul on Cal Baptist sent Holcombe to the line for Utah Valley with 39 seconds left, where the sophomore made 1-of-2 attempts. Had Daniels not suddenly turned nuclear at the right time, maybe Cal Baptist would have had a little bit of panic. There was none. With 17 seconds left, Daniels sank a third 3-pointer in less than two minutes to give CBU an improbable 63-62 lead and effectively turned himself from zero to hero.

Utah Valley’s Isaac Davis misses a potential game-tying dunk in the closing seconds to allow Cal Baptist (which trailed by 7 with under 3 minutes to go) to clinch its first NCAA Tournament berth by winning the final WAC game ever.

This is March pic.twitter.com/eQucBHYbPz

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 15, 2026

However, 17 seconds remained between Cal Baptist and the NCAA Tournament. Utah Valley still had a decided size advantage and had been scoring at will inside for much of the second half and Cal Baptist still hadn’t really found a viable answer for that. It turns out, the Lancers wouldn’t need to.

This is Why We Love March Basketball

Utah Valley guard Tevan Leonhardt drove left and tossed an alley-oop to forward Isaac Davis, but the pass was a touch too soft, and Davis caught it too low to successfully convert the dunk and was stuffed by the rim. Jonathan Griman secured the rebound for Cal Baptist and tossed it out to Daniels on the outlet pass, who tossed the ball as high as he could in celebration as the buzzer sounded. Instead of Utah Valley making its maiden NCAA Tournament trip, it was Cal Baptist’s moment in the lights instead.

What made this classic even more insane was that it was the last game in the history of the WAC, which has provided more memories for college sports fans than folks may realize. This tournament didn’t come without side drama either, after Utah Valley was nearly banned from the tournament due to unpaid league fees and had to put $1 million in escrow just to have a chance to play in the conference tournament as the league’s No. 1 seed.

It can’t be March without drama, and The Orleans had drama this week in the highest order. At a time during conference tournament week where the time starts to drag a little bit, Cal Baptist and Utah Valley put on the show of the weekend.