Buzzer Beater Sends Great Danes Dancing

This week's feelgood story is in the books.

Except, of course, for the Stony Brook Seawolves.

For the fourth time in four tries, the Brook has fallen one step short of the NCAA tournament.

But if it was gonna happen, best that Albany's Peter Hooley be the hero. And he was.

Trailing by seven with under two minutes to go in the America East championship game, the Great Danes had shaved the deficit to two, 50-48, with seconds to play. Then this:

With that, Albany was on its way to a third straight trip to the Big Dance.

It's a bittersweet journey for Hooley, an Australian who'd just returned from Down Under for a final visit with his mother before she succumbed to a long battle with cancer.

With those emotions no doubt lingering under his every move, Hooley probably didn't even take time to think on that last shot. He simply reacted.

Meanwhile, Stony Brook keeps ending each season at or near the conference leaderboard. can only hope that the fifth time -- whenever it comes -- will be a charm.

Their first order of business: holding a lead when the rubber meets the road.