AUBURN, Ala. – With 39 seconds left and the game tied, 32-32, Jason Lee stepped to the free throw line and did his best Jared Harper impersonation, calmly knocking down two free throws to give the White Team its first lead of the second half.
The Orange Team could not come up with the tying basket on the other end, and the White Team, down 28-11 at the half, capped the comeback with a 35-32 victory inside Auburn Arena.
It was technically the White Team who built that 28-11 lead in the first half, but in an unprecedented move, they agreed to swap scores and the White Team spotted the Orange Team a 17-point lead going into the second half.
"It would've been nice to know that they flipped the score going into the second half," said Andy Burcham, the new Voice of the Auburn Tigers. Burcham and Sonny Smith did the commentary for the game. "Hopefully, we'll work out that kind of communication with the media relations staff before the start of the men's basketball season," he joked.
Flipping scores is not a change that's likely to be adopted by the NCAA anytime soon, but at the Bruce Pearl Fantasy Camp, anything goes.
Lee, the MVP of last year's game, finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, but it was his teammate, Brian Jennings, who earned MVP honors this year with a game-high 23 points. Jennings, a native of Lanett, Alabama, who currently lives in Pell City, scored six straight points down the stretch to tie the game.
"It was just good coaching," Jennings said. "It was really a team effort."
The winning coaches this year included Steven Pearl, Marquis Daniels and Ryan Langford as well as one of the campers, Joey Pierson. On the losing side was Ira Bowman, Chad Prewett, Mike Burgomaster and fellow camper, Bill Neville.
"I came in here thinking we really had a chance to win and compete, and I was disappointed at what happened," Neville said during his post-game interview. "I know that what's going to happen is we're going to go back and we're going to work hard. This is going to be a turning point for us."
"The offseason starts now," added Prewett. "We're going to start right now preparing. In one year, we're going to be back here and we're see the hard work pay off."
The game itself is just a small part of the experience for the 42 participants who attended this year's camp. On Friday, they heard from head football coach Gus Malzahn and head baseball coach Butch Thompson, who shared insight into their respective programs. They also received a visit from athletic director Allen Greene.
"I really think the highlight was just kind of getting that behind-the-scenes look and hearing the coaches talk about their philosophy, how they think about recruiting and building a team and culture," Jennings said. "We were just getting that backstage view."
And of course, the campers spent the majority of Friday and Saturday with Bruce Pearl and his staff, seeing the ins and outs of a program that just reached its first Final Four.
"This fantasy camp has been one of the best ways for us to build up our program," Pearl said. "Most of these guys are repeat offenders. They have been with us for a few years and knew our program when we were not competitive and then watched us become competitive and then eventually become champions.
"We just come in and we talk basketball. We talk strategy, we talk about recruiting. We just get them behind the scenes a little bit, so they get a little bit more informed. You take the curtain back a little bit, and that's what our best fans and donors want. They just want to be a part of it."