MONTREAT, N.C. - CIU men's basketball has had its fair share of wild endings, but perhaps none crazier than their 69-67 walk-off win over Montreat College (18-8, 16-7 AAC) on Wednesday night. The win comes in CIU's (17-11, 13-10 AAC) final regular-season road game of the season as the victory is critical to the opening road of the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament. CIU has clinched as a host site for the opening round, but with the win now has a chance to move out of the 8th seed and avoid facing the always difficult Point University Skyhawks, who are currently in 9th. 

It was a relatively uneventful first half for CIU as the Rams fell behind early on. CIU cut the Montreat advantage down to 31-27 with 2:17 remaining on a DiAnthony Heathcoack layup but trailed by eight (35-27) at halftime. 

The Rams steadily chipped away at the Cavalier lead through the first ten minutes of the second half and finally took a lead of their own (47-46) on a Darrian Oates layup at the 11:47. Each team traded blows in the game's final ten minutes, but the Rams seemingly put the Cavaliers away on a Bryce Causey 3-pointer to give CIU a 64-60 lead with 53 seconds remaining. However, from there, chaos would ensue, and the Rams found themselves in a tie-ball game with five seconds left 90 feet from their own basket. Veteran point guard Jalen Brinson would then go coast to coast, letting the game-winning floater fly as the horn sounded. Brinson's soft touch found the bottom of the net, giving CIU the 69-67 win. 

Darrian Oates lit up the second-half box score going 7-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep for 18 points in the game's final 20 minutes. 

Jalen Brinson was once again toying with a triple-double, recording 15 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Brinson has already set the program record for assists in a season with still a game left to play in the regular season. 

Both Skyler McKinney and Bryce Causey reached double-figures as McKinney scored 12 and Causey chipped in ten.

DiAnthony Heathcock was two points away from a double-double with 11 rebounds and eight points. 

Watch Brinson's game-winner:

What Coach Tony Stockman is saying:

"We tell the guys all the time to control what you can control and that the measure of a man is how he responds when things don't go his way. Our team took that advice and responded great today. After some bus issues on the way here, the guys didn't take it for granted that we made it to Montreat and had a chance to play. Despite being down at the half, we stayed with it and made game-winning plays. Proud of the focus and hard work."

Up next:

CIU will play their final regular-season game at home on Saturday, Feb. 19, against Bluefield College (Va.) at 4 PM.