IRVINE, CA --- The best way to describe what happened at CU Arena tonight may be just to state the fact that the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Concordia led for a grand total of zero seconds, but still found a way to pull off a bleacher-clearing buzzer-beating 63-61 win over Fresno Pacific.

The Eagles had trailed by as much as 14 points in the second half, but somehow found a way to put the ball in the hands of junior guard Justin Johnson, whose running, off-balanced bank shot as time expired stunned the Sunbirds and sent Concordia fans spilling onto the court to join in a frenzied celebration.

"I knew that the ball was going to come to me, since that's the way Coach drew up the play," Johnson said. "I knew that we only had five seconds, so it was going to have to be a full-out sprint, but I just tried to hit the backboard, and the ball went in."

Johnson ended the night with a game-high 17 points, including 13 in the second half, racked up his first career double-double with 11 boards, and went 11-for-12 from the free throw line.

The Eagles had finally tied the game for the first time at 61-61 with 10 tics on the clock when senior forward Dominic Cruz-Duncan went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe to give Fresno Pacific a chance to take a late lead on its last possession.

However, reigning GSAC Player of the Year James Lewis Jr., who scored 14 points tonight, was called for traveling with just five seconds left to play, setting the stage for Johnson's late-game heroics.

"We were out-coached, out-hustled, out-played, down the entire game and had nothing going, but somehow we found a way to win, I really can't explain it," head coach Ken Ammann said. "Lewis hit some big shots and nearly iced the game, but somehow we found a way. They were the aggressor all night, especially in the first half. That was just a gutsy win."

Fresno Pacific, last year's GSAC champion, led by double-digits throughout the first 7:25 of the second half, until a Lewis foul put Johnson at the charity stripe, where he drained both shots to cut the lead down to 50-42.

Senior guard Terrence Worthy then knocked in a layup to make it a six-point game with 10:43 left to play, and the crowd stayed on its feet the rest of the way.

It looked like Fresno Pacific had the game tucked away when Lewis made a huge three-pointer that answered a 6-1 CUI run powered by two treys from sophomore forward Cameron Gliddon, making it a 61-56 game with 1:26 left.

Cruz-Duncan followed with a missed layup that looked like a sure defensive rebound for Fresno Pacific, but Johnson somehow came up with that board and carved his way through the Sunbird defense to cut the lead down to three points, at 61-58 with 59 seconds left.

The triple from Lewis at 1:26 proved to be FPU's final points of the game, as All-GSAC selection Todd Brown--who ended with 12 points--missed both of his free-throw attempts with a dozen seconds left on the clock and a chance to put his team up by three points.

Gliddon ended with 16 points thanks to four three-pointers, while junior center Ben Smith and sophomore center Andre Murillo each tallied six points.

Worthy scored 12 points on the night, six of which came on a pair of treys within the last minute of the first half, as he turned a 13-point Fresno Pacific lead into a nine-point lead heading into the locker room.

"At the end of the first half, Terrence shot some big threes that really gave us some momentum," Johnson said. "We knew that we had to turn it up a level on our defensive game, both individually and as a team, and we did. We were able to come up with the shots at the right time."

The Eagles improve to a school-record 19-0, including 9-0 in GSAC, while Fresno Pacific drops to 14-5, 4-5 GSAC.

Concordia next plays this Tuesday (Jan. 26) at San Diego Christian, starting at 7:30 p.m. in El Cajon.