When one thinks of Spokane, Wash., there is generally little correlation to the game of basketball. The Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains are more synonymous with skiing, backpacking and hiking, than with the hardwood. To me, Spokane was nothing more than just a dot on the map; something to fill the gap between Minneapolis and Seattle. Now of course, Spokane means much more.

I don’t think anything could better embody the spirit of March Madness than the Spokane Arena did Saturday. As the Badgers staged a comeback for the ages, the crowded arena began to empty. With the local Gonzaga Bulldogs embroiled in a battle of their own, the locals took to the concourse to watch their Zags duel with Arizona on the television screens above the concessions.

Just as a media timeout was coming to an end late in the second half, the crowd let out a gigantic shriek, the kind you reserve for something so shocking or amazing you can’t help dropping your draw and letting some retched noise spill out of your throat.

One of the scoreboards read “OT” for Gonzaga, and the arena emptied a little more.

The Tulsa and UW faithful remained, but the people of Spokane have just one peg to hang their sports hopes on. Their Bulldogs, no longer the unheralded team they once were, were adding another great game to their legacy. The spirit of Spokane rises and falls with the success of Gonzaga, and their game against Arizona would be one they’d talk about for years to come.

While most of the arena had moved elsewhere, a game Badger fans would talk about for ages unfolded. Down thirteen with four minutes remaining, Bo Ryan told his players just that in the huddle. Ryan’s bold statement had his players believing they could pull of a victory, down 13, after being outplayed by Tulsa for 36 minutes.

Playing downright dirty defense and knocking down one key shot after another, the Badgers found the ball in their possession, down two, with 12 seconds remaining.

The fans in the concourse began to poke their heads back in the arena just to see what was going on. You could see them standing in the walkways, torn between two great games and between their love of live basketball and hometown pride.

In such chaos, Freddie Owens was able to draw some magic as an “indescribable feeling” came over him, an assurance partly drawn from Ryan, and a confidence taken from the years of practicing the three from the corner as he drained the biggest shot of the Badgers season.

The Spokane faithful were now all standing in astonishment in what they had just seen, or for most, missed. I must admit, I saw it all happen in front of me and the UW comeback still is a little hard to believe.

Running to the post-game press conference, the arena grew with cheers just as large as during the game as the Gonzaga game put up on the big screen. The press conference itself was hampered with the same problem, as those working for radio stations were left with very little useable audio.

Unfortunately for the locals, the Zags couldn’t get the last shot it needed as they fell in double overtime to the Wildcats in Salt Lake, spurring on “what ifs” that would indeed dominate bar room talk until next season.

Indeed, finding myself in O’Doherty’s Irish Pub the next day, the locals were abuzz with the heartbreak they had fallen upon.

“Stepp should’ve just gone in for the layup,” one local said. “He had a free pass to the basket, but he tried to bank it in.”

Willfully the local admitted he skipped out of the arena before the Badger/Tulsa game to watch Gonzaga. Another local said he’d be pulling for UW, because he enjoyed “their poise under pressure.”

In the meantime the Spokane locals will have to wait until next season to cheer on their Zags, who could be without coach Mark Few next season as he might head to bigger territory much like his predecessor Dan Monson, now with the Gophers.

They’ll still have their favorite son, John Stockton, a former Zag and Spokane native to root for, and it’s not that long until their annual April 3-on-3 basketball tournament. But Spokane abides, and the town has enough basketball memories and moments to look forward to, to get them to their next Mad March.