No. 12 seed High Point stuns Wisconsin in NCAA Tournament on late Chase Johnston lay-in

PORTLAND, Ore. — Chase Johnston is a 3-point specialist, the guy you call on if you need a falling-down, off-balance bomb from long range. The 6-foot-3 High Point guard, a graduate student, shoots almost exclusively from deep, and coming into 12th-seeded Panthers’ NCAA Tournament matchup with Wisconsin, he had only attempted four 2-point shots all year and made zero of them.

Now he’s 1-for-5. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Johnston’s layup with 11 seconds to go gave High Point an 83-82 win Thursday in the Moda Center, stunning the fifth-seeded Badgers from the Big Ten.

It was chaos after that. Johnston scored the layup, and High Point called a timeout to set its defense — and sub out Johnston, who is not a defensive specialist. Then Wisconsin guard Nick Boyd, who’d gotten to the rim at will in the second half, drove to the paint and promptly had his shot swatted away by High Point’s Owen Aquino.

The Badgers were forced to foul, and High Point’s Cam’Ron Fletcher missed his first free throw, giving Wisconsin a prayer. Wisconsin had to inbound and go the length of the floor in 1.8 seconds, but Andrew Rhode’s pass was off. High Point’s Terry Anderson nabbed it for a steal, and the win.

High Point, the Big South Conference regular-season and tournament champions, came back from as many as 10 down, thanks in part to the shooting of Johnston, who drained four 3s — three in the second half — and finished with 14 points. Johnston has now taken 138 3s on the season.

Rob Martin led the Panthers with 23 points as five players scored in double figures for High Point, which will advance to play the winner of Arkansas-Hawaii.

Boyd led Wisconsin with 27 points, while John Blackwell scored 22.

This story will be updated.