No. 8 in The Untouchables: Cincinnati and Bradley work overtime

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The Untouchables is a 10-part series spotlighting college basketball's most unbreakable records. Up next is No. 8: Division I's longest game.


The only seven-overtime game in Division I basketball history probably would have gone even deeper into the night were it not for a little-known role player who didn't waste a rare chance to make an impact.

He was only in the game in the final seconds of the seventh overtime because Cincinnati's two starting forwards fouled out. He only had the ball in his hands because the defense swarmed the Bearcats' primary two scoring options. And even more than three decades later, members of the opposing team still can't believe it was him who beat them.

Reserve forward Doug Schloemer hit the decisive shot in Cincinnati's 75-73 victory over Bradley on Dec. 21, 1981, a left-wing 15 footer with one second remaining in the seventh overtime. That basket punctuated an epic game that lasted well over three hours and assured Schloemer a permanent place in Bearcats lore.

"It was a pretty neat thing," Schloemer said. "Anytime there is a long game or there's an anniversary, I always get asked to get on the radio. It's one of the top moments in my career."

The marathon between Cincinnati and Bradley is one of just three games to reach seven overtimes at any level of college basketball. The only other Division I games that ever even went to a sixth overtime are Niagara's 88-81 victory over Siena in 1953, Minnesota's 59-56 win over Purdue in 1955 and Syracuse's 127-117 classic against UConn in 2009.

Glance at the handwritten box score from the Cincinnati-Bradley game, and the numbers in the minutes column will look like they ought to be misprints. Nine players logged 60 or more minutes highlighted by Bradley center Donald Reese and Cincinnati guard Bobby Austin, both of whom set a Division I record by playing 73 of a possible 75 minutes.

"I don't think anyone felt tired because it was so intense," Reese said. "You really couldn't think about being tired because the first time you relax, you wouldn't have made seven overtimes. It would have been over. Everyone on both sides was mentally and physically prepared to pay the price."



More from "The Untouchables" Series:
• No. 10: North Carolina's 56-game home winning streak over Clemson
• No. 9: Butler guard Darnell Archey's 85 straight made free throws
• No. 8: Cincinnati and Bradley play Division I's only seven-overtime game
• No. 7: June 7
• No. 6: June 8
• No. 5: June 11
• No. 4: June 12
• No. 3: June 13
• No. 2: June 14
• No. 1: June 15



A near-capacity crowd at the deafening Robertson Memorial Field House provided the perfect backdrop for a matchup that was already noteworthy even before the overtimes began.

Cincinnati hoped to move to 6-1 and crack the national polls with a win. Bradley needed a victory as well after coach Dick Versace challenged his team to put forth a more consistent effort following a rare home loss to Murray State two nights earlier.

The pace of the game was quick throughout the opening 40 minutes, but it changed dramatically after Austin hit a jump shot from the corner at the end of regulation to tie the score at 61. Suddenly, both teams became content to pass the ball around the perimeter, conserve energy and kill clock whenever they managed any sort of lead.

Cincinnati and Bradley went scoreless in the third overtime and managed only one bucket apiece in four others. The Braves missed last-second shots that could have won the game in four of the overtimes and wasted a four-point lead in the final 90 seconds of a fifth.

"It kind of got goofy for a while," Schloemer said. "About the third or fourth overtime, if you got the ball, it was like gold. If you didn't have a layup, people weren't taking a shot."

Neither team had scored in the seventh overtime when Cincinnati coach Ed Badger put the ball in the hands of point guard Junior Johnson and instructed him to drive to the rim and create for himself or a teammate. Bradley defended the play well and blanketed Austin on the right wing, so Johnson passed to Schloemer on the left side of the floor for his contested game-winning jump shot.

"The reason I was really disappointed was he wasn't their go-to guy," said Bradley guard Willie Scott, now an assistant coach at his alma mater. "We did a great job of covering the guys who would usually take that shot, and he just came out of the blue and ended up scoring it. But I give him all the credit for making that shot under pressure."

The memory of the seven-overtime thriller is not as pleasant for the Bradley players as for their Cincinnati counterparts because of the outcome, yet they're still proud to have been part of history.

As he watched Syracuse's memorable victory over Connecticut in the Big East quarterfinals three years ago, Reese admits taking pleasure that the six-overtime marathon did not require a seventh.

"I kind of like being a part of history," Reese said. "That's cool. I have one record and I want to hold onto it."