"It was a one dribble pull-up jumper," Penno explained. "I put it up and said a prayer while it was in the air and God answered the prayer." At the time it appeared that Penno's shot was the last play of the game as the buzzer sounded after his shot fell through the net. But the floor had to be cleared of celebrating Miami fans when game officials, alerted by Akron head coach Keith Dambrot, went to the replay at courtside to determine if the clock was started timely after Akron's Cedrick Middleton missed the front-end of a one and one with 6.6 seconds remaining.

The wild series of events started when Akron's Middleton was fouled by Penno following a missed lay-up by MAC Tournament MVP Tim Pollitz that would have tied the game. Middleton missed his free throw attempt and the rebound was tipped by Akron senior forward Romeo Travis before Miami sophomore guard Michael Bramos corralled the loose ball, passing it to Penno, setting up Penno's late-game heroics. It was the first time Miami had taken the lead in the second half. After review, it was determined that the official timekeeper did not start the clock until Bramos possessed the rebound instead of starting the clock when the missed free throw was tipped.

A delay of nine minutes ensued as officials reviewed the tape.

Miami head coach Charlie Coles thought that the actual shot was being reviewed. "I thought they were reviewing whether the shot was good or not. I was unruly. I almost had three fights. They had some big guy standing there telling me I couldn't go past a certain line. When I realized they weren't going to overrule the shot, I was okay with their decision."

That decision that was made was to add six-tenths of a second on the clock but it was not enough to satisfy a clearly disappointed Keith Dambrot.

The Akron head coach said afterward that "I never got a good explanation. They (the officials) are telling me that the ball is tipped underneath, ricocheted into the corner and they (Miami) shoot the ball with 2.6 seconds or so left? That's impossible. I hope they are right...but if they are wrong, then it's inexcusable. If I am wrong I will be man enough to admit it. In an important situation like this the league commissioner should be involved too."

"It's unfortunate. It was a lucky shot," Dambrot continued. "A great shot, but lucky. I told my guys that sometimes life isn't always going to be fair. I really feel bad for our guys."

After the game, head game official Lamont Simpson explained, through a press pool reporter, the process that the officials used to determine that more time should be added. "At the start of the missed free throw the ball was touched with 6.6 seconds left. The clock did not start. In order to get the correct time on the clock we ran the play live and used a stopwatch. We started (the stopwatch) on the touch and stopped it on the made basket as the ball came through the net. We timed it live. The stopwatch read six seconds. We did it at least five times." Simpson added that the officials realized the clock had not started correctly when "Keith (Dambrot) brought it to our attention."

MAC head of officials, Sam Lickliter, backed up the decision stating, "They handled everything by rule and got it right."

The loss by Akron means the Zips, despite finishing the season 26-7, are far from assured of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and could possibly be left out of the NIT as well due to its reduced field (from 40 to 32) and rule changes guaranteeing a spot to a conference's regular season champion if they do not receive an NCAA tournament bid. Toledo, the MAC's regular season champ, will likely secure an NIT bid after finishing the season 19-13.

Dambrot, not surprisingly, feels strongly that Akron has earned an at-large berth based on its body of work this season and wonders why the Zips aren't being mentioned more prominently when it comes to discussing so-called bubble teams.

"The worst thing is that nobody has lobbied for us to be in the NCAA tournament," said Dambrot. "We have 26 wins and you haven't heard anything on television. Our seven losses have been by a combined 21 points. You haven't heard anything about us. I think we deserve it."

Dambrot also defended Akron's out of conference schedule, indicating that the Zips could not get some of the top mid-major programs to come to their arena and play.

"We couldn't get the Missouri Valley to come into our building to play. Nobody would come to our place and I'm not taking (our guys) out to play every game on the road. I refuse to do that. You can only play who wants to play you. I don't know what people want us to do. We lost by two points to Nevada at home, using their conference's referees. We tried to get Pitt to come in and they refused, choosing to play at Buffalo instead. This team can play with a lot of people. I guarantee you that.

Miami head coach Charlie Coles pretty much echoed Dambrot's thoughts afterward as well. "Initially, after we won, of course I felt great. But then I thought about that Akron team," stated Coles. "How can (a team) have 26 victories and not be mentioned for an at-large bid? Something has to be seriously wrong with the system."

Miami (18-14), however, will not have to worry about being selected. Their upset win in the conference tournament final gives Miami the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"We were very fortunate to win tonight. It's been so long," added Coles. The Redhawks earned their first automatic bid to the big dance since 1997.

How fortunate? Akron controlled the game, but were never able to put away the pesky Redhawks. Miami's last lead, before Penno's game winning shot, was at the 5:50 mark of the first half when the Redhawks led 17-15 before Akron put on a late first-half surge to lead 28-21 at the break. The Zips were able to weather Miami's first-half defensive pressure behind solid shooting from Romeo Travis and guard Dru Joyce who were a combined 4-5 from three point range while Jeremiah Wood contributed seven first half points and five rebounds.

The Zips briefly extended their lead to ten points, 31-21, early in the second half after Wood converted a lay up off of a defensive rebound by Travis following a rare miss from Miami's Tim Pollitz. Miami though was able to stay within shouting distance, never falling behind by more than eight points over the next eight minutes thanks to a suffocating defense that limited Akron to only 24 second-half points.

Miami closed to within 47-42 following a lay up by Tim Pollitz, who finished with a game-high 19 points, and outscored Akron 10-4 in the final 3:33. The score was tied twice in the final 2:22.

Akron held a five point lead, 48-43 with just over three and a half minutes remaining when Nathan Peavy sank a crucial three pointer and then Bramos rebounded a missed jumper by Romeo Travis to tie the score at 48-48. Jeremiah Wood briefly put Akron up 50-48 on a short jumper but Pollitz quickly answered for Miami with a game-tying layup to make it 50-50 with 1:22 remaining. Following a Nathan Peavy foul, Akron's Travis than sank two free throws putting Akron up 52-50 with thirty seconds remaining. Miami's Pollitz then missed a lay up, leading to Cedrick Middleton's rebound and foul by Penno sending Middleton to the line with a chance to put the game out of reach but Middleton missed the front-end of the one-and-one, setting the stage for Penno's dramatic championship-clinching shot for Miami.

"It's an experience none of us will forget," said Penno who reluctantly admitted he did not plan on his last shot going in off the glass. "I would like to say that's how I planned it, believe me, I would really like to say that, but no, that wasn't how I planned it." But Penno had to wait those nine agonizing minutes when the officials were reviewing the clock situation.

"It was mind boggling," added Tim Pollitz when discussing the delay. "I was going crazy but could see something happening at the scorer's table."

But in the end, Penno's shot held up as Akron's inbound pass form the baseline sailed wide and time ran harmlessly out on Akron's chances.

"This is a dream come true," said Penno.

NOTES:

•          Attendance for the finals: 10,045

•         Saturday's game marked Akron's first appearance in the MAC Tournament Championship Game.

•          The loss snapped Akron's six-game win-streak and was only their third loss in their last 20 games.

•          Miami held an opponent under 60 points for the 18th time this season and is the only team in Division 1 to hold every opponent under 70 points.