News of Nicholas Fein’s spectacular buzzer-beater Tuesday night to lift No. 13 Norwell over fourth-seeded Swampscott in dramatic fashion in Div. 3 boys basketball state tournament action quickly made its way across the state.
Less than 24 hours later, Fein’s heroics reached a national audience.
The incredible half-court heave from Fein wound up making the Wednesday morning edition of “SportsCenter’s” Top 10 plays, coming in at No. 2. The only play ranked higher on the list came from pro golfer Tom Kim, who sunk a hole-in-one on Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links team in the TGL — a simulated golf league.
You can watch the SportsCenter segment on Fein here.
The stage for Fein was set with Norwell inbounding the ball in the frontcourt with 3.8 seconds left and trailing Swampscott by two points. Fein immediately met a double team after receiving the inbound pass and actually took a couple of dribbles backward. But it gave him the separation he needed as he launched his shot from just inside the half-court line with a second remaining.
What happened next resulted in pandemonium for Norwell and utter disbelief for Swampscott as Fein’s shot swished through the net to give the Clippers a 43-42 victory. The long-shot basket sent players from the Clippers’ bench — and some fans in the stands, too — bolting onto the court in a wild celebration. Fein did his best Derek Fisher impersonation as he ran around the court with his teammates and fans gleefully chasing after him.
This isn’t the first time this season Fein pulled off a buzzer-beater. In just the second game of the campaign against Middleboro, Fein came up with a last-second steal and converted a layup as time expired to clinch another win for Norwell.
Fein’s improbable shot keeps Norwell’s dreams of trying to claim back-to-back Division 3 state titles alive. The Clippers, who defeated Old Rochester in last year’s state final, advance to the state quarterfinals where they await the winner of No. 5 Springfield High School of Science and Technology and No. 12 Greater Lawrence Tech.
