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A student announcer from High Point University provided an appropriately exhilarating call in the team’s stunning upset win Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.
High Point entered the tournament as the 12th seed in the West region. The Panthers took on fifth-seeded Wisconsin on Thursday at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. With High Point trailing late in the second half, 3-point specialist Chase Johnston helped mount the comeback with several clutch shots. When the Panthers were down eight with five minutes remaining, he pulled up from the half-court logo and drilled the shot to cut the deficit to five.
Then, with under a minute left and his team still down four, Johnston hit another 3-pointer to make it just a one-point game.
Roughly 40 seconds later, High Point forced a Wisconsin miss and grabbed the rebound. One of Johnston’s teammates found him sprinting to the other side of the floor for the go-ahead layup. The shot was first 2-pointer Johnston had made all season.
The Panthers sealed the win with a block on the other end.
High Point’s student radio team, comprised of play-by-play announcer Jimmy Rosselli and color commentator Griffin Wright, more than delivered on the moment.
“Throw on the glass slippers!” Rosselli said as Wright pointed to the sky in disbelief. “It’s a Cinderella story in Portland, Oregon! For the first time in program history, High Point breaks through! We will see you in the round of 32! Oh, what a feeling!”
The broadcast team was widely praised online for the performance.
I love it when passion, talent, and opportunity mesh for student journalists. These young men will go as far as they want. https://t.co/BqrLcxVl8V
— David Schiele WTSP (@Deacon_Schiele) March 20, 2026
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