Blue Earth Area Buccaneers’ Max Loge can be seen in the center of the photo above, launching a three-quarters of the court shot towards the Bucs’ basket, with only a second on the clock. Loge had grabbed a missed free-throw attempt that had bounced once on the rim and once on the floor and immediately used his forward momentum to send the ball on its way and win the overtime game.

Game winning shots in basketball are not that rare. But, a game-winning shot that was taken from the opposing team’s free-throw line – that just might end up as the number one play on ESPN’s Top Ten plays of the day, is.

That is exactly what happened when Blue Earth Area’s Max Loge swished his three quarter length shot against the Windom Area Eagles on Saturday, Feb. 24, during the Big South Showcase event held in St. James.

“Everything just worked out right,” Max says. “When the Windom Area kid missed the free throw with 1.6 seconds left, the ball hit off of the rim and caromed back towards the free throw line. It bounced once and I grabbed it and my momentum was going towards our basket and I shot it.”

The ball hit nothing but net and the Bucs, who were trailing by two points in the overtime contest, went home with a one-point victory.

“It was a one-handed shot just like my normal jump shot,” Max explains. “If my momentum wouldn’t have been taking me towards our basket, I never would have been able to shoot the ball that far. It felt good when I released the shot, but it was too far away to tell if it was going to go in.”

The video of the shot used by ESPN was recorded by Dan Brookens of KSUM in Fairmont.

“I was at St. James for the next game between the Fairmont Cardinals and the St. James Saints,” Brookens shares. “I got there early and BEA and Windom Area were playing. It was an entertaining game and the score was close so I started recording in case something happened, but I never envisioned the something being that crazy.”

Brookens says he put the video up on the station’s X (formerly known as twitter) account.

“Five or so people tagged it with #sctop10,” Brookens adds. “By the Monday morning after the game, over 70,000 people had viewed the video on our account.”

He says he just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

“Being there early for the game gave me the chance to get that video,” Brookens comments. “It is kind of ironic that as a Fairmont Cardinal broadcaster, the first time I get a video like this – it is of the Blue Earth Area Bucs.”

Bucs’ coach Colby Swanson tells of a conversation he had with Max and fellow senior, Noah Dahl, before the game.

“I complemented Max and Noah on their leadership during the last couple of weeks – especially against Waseca and Worthington,” Swanson says. “I told them that even though we had lost those two games the guys had played together and played hard to the end.”

Swanson continues, “Then I said that I didn’t know if it was going to happen today, but something good is going to happen to this team before the season is over. Little did I know.”

Max shares Swanson’s comments were not the only prophetic statements made before his big basket.

“After the Windom kid missed the first free throw, Gage Barker says to me, ‘We’re gonna make this,'” Max comments.

After Max made the shot, Gage was the first person to bump chests with him in celebration.

Swanson was the next one to reach Max.

“Coach sprinted off of the bench and lifted me up in the air and gave me a big hug,” Max says.

“I was so excited I didn’t know what to do,” Max’s mother, Angie recalls. “I ran down the steps and back up again.”

Max’s father, Mark, decided he needed to go outside and get the sandwiches for the team to eat now that the game was over.

Max reveals that is when his father had his Herb Brooks moment.

“I got outside and just screamed and let it out,” Mark admits. “The boys have played hard all year and put forth good effort only to suffer a couple of tough setbacks. They needed something like this.”

Angie shares the moment was made even more special because Max’s sister, Phoebe, was at the game.

“She wasn’t supposed to be home that weekend but something came up and here she was,” Angie comments. “She would have been upset if she would not have seen Max make that shot in person.”

In the locker room after the game, an emotional Swanson shares he was left speechless.

“There were no words,” he confesses.

Then, the video of the game-winning shot began to ‘blow up’ on social media.

“We heard from friends and family from as far away as Costa Rica, Arizona and southern Florida,” Angie shares. “It was amazing how fast the news spread.”

The Loge family finally settled down into their own home later that evening and were waiting to see if the game-winning shot by Max would actually end up as one of ESPN’s SportCenter’s Top 10 plays of the day.

“It got late, I was tired, I had to go to bed,” Angie says.

“I went to bed,” Max adds. “I was exhausted and fell asleep. I think Phoebe went to her room, too.”

But, not Mark.

“I had to stay up and watch,” Mark reveals. “And then I saw that Max’s shot was the No. 1 play of the day.”

Soon, the rest of the Loge household knew something had happened.

“Like I said, I was sleeping and then I woke up to my dad yelling and jumping around,” Max comments.

Angie was the last one to join the celebration.

“I heard this eruption and I come out to see Mark, Phoebe and Max jumping and running around,” Angie says, laughing.

The family shares it was quite an ending to an incredible day.

When Max woke up the next morning, he notes he had to stop and question if all that happened the day before was real.

“Then I saw all of the messages from everybody,” he comments. “I knew it was real.”

But the story does not end there. It turns out that Max may have not been the first Loge to hit a long, game-winning shot.

“My grandma told me that my grandpa Jeff made a shot that was at least half court in high school when he played for Frost,” Max shares. “Our assistant coach, Spencer Monson, told me his father said the same thing, that my grandfather had sunk a long shot.”

In the end, it has been quite a memorable experience for the Loge family and the Blue Earth Area fans, but Max, a captain and leader on the team, is quick to remind people what was really important.

“That shot capped off what was probably the best game of my life,” Max says. “But, the important thing is that the team did not give up, we played together and we won the game.”