The Bearcats were in a "holi-daze."

That was part of the headline for the Cincinnati Post's sports section on December 21st, 1981, leading up to Cincinnati's basketball showdown with Bradley that night. To that point in the season, the Bearcats were not necessarily a bad team and even had an impressive record of 6-1. The issue, though, was that they seemed to start every game in a "slow-starting" way, according to Cindy Morris of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The reasoning for this supposed "holi-daze" came from the game the Bearcats played about 48 hours earlier, in which they faced Miami in a close one at Riverfront Coliseum. While the final score showed a slightly comfortable 69-62 win for UC, it was anything but. Cincinnati held a 37-34 halftime lead and only led by one point with four minutes left. However, with the Bearcats "repeatedly rising to the occasion," according to Morris, they went on an 8-2 run to close out a nail-biter against a local foe.

So, maybe there was reason to believe that Cincinnati would stumble into its meeting with Bradley a bit dazed and exhausted. It would be their third game in six days, following road trips to Michigan State and fourth-ranked Wichita State.

But Bradley was not immune to fatigue either. Not only did the Braves play on the 19th, but they also played in an even closer game than Cincinnati, falling to a 58-56 overtime defeat against Murray State. 

Considering all the factors coming into the match-up, the game would likely be a struggle for both sides. Still, both would want a win to close out the first part of the season and have something to build upon coming out of the winter break. The game tipped off at 9 p.m. at the Robertson Memorial Field House in Peoria, Illinois. The predicted struggle would become an encounter that neither the program nor the record books would ever forget.

The game began as expected. Cincinnati got off to a slow start in the first half, with Bradley leading 40-35 at the break. After a lower-scoring second half, the Bearcats trailed 61-57 with 45 seconds left. Here is where the absurdity began.

Bearcats junior guard Kevin Gaffney hit a jump shot to make it 61-59. Despite the lack of a shot clock then, Cincinnati somehow regained possession. It was up to senior guard Bobby Austin to deliver, and he did, hitting a jump shot to tie the score at 61.

They headed for overtime––the last thing either team wanted.

As the first overtime tipped off, Cincinnati won possession. They held the ball for a while, maybe to catch their breath. Then they held the ball some more. That's when the realization set in for everyone in attendance: They were just going to keep holding the ball. What was a basketball game turned into a highly intense affair of keepaway. 

Since there was no shot clock, there was no reason for the Bearcats to let go of the ball. And with nothing stopping Cincinnati from holding the ball, they did just that. The Bearcats would hold it until they had the chance for a game-winning shot or if an opportunity to score became so apparent that they had no choice but to take it.

In the first overtime, they chose the latter. UC gained a 63-61 lead, but Bradley responded with their own bucket. The Bearcats had a chance to take the final shot, but that went awry when Gaffney threw an errant pass to Junior Johnson, which Bradley picked off. David Thirdkill, the Braves' leading scorer at 25 points, took the final shot of the first overtime... 

He missed, Mike Williams for UC rebounded, and they needed another period to decide a winner.

An important thing to note regarding the pace of scoring is that in Bradley's previous overtime against Murray State, the teams combined for 22 points. In this overtime, the Bearcats and Braves compiled just four. Cincinnati set the precedent for holding possession as long as possible, and Bradley followed along.

In the second overtime, the Braves took a 65-63 lead thanks to a put-back by Thirdkill before Gaffney evened it up with two crucial free throws for UC. It was Bradley's turn to end the contest again, but the show went on after Mitchell Anderson missed the game-winner. 

Overtime period number three was on the way. 

Neither team was able to score. While the Cincinnati Enquirer mentions Bradley having a "final try" the following day, there was no mention of a field goal attempt the entire period, as the Braves never even got a shot off before time expired.

In the fourth overtime, somewhat normal basketball activities resumed, with both teams exchanging two points. With about 26 seconds left, Cincinnati finally had the opportunity to end the game on their terms. Austin and Johnson began passing the ball between each other.

They just needed one shot.

The buzzer sounded.

There was no shot.

Johnson and Austin continued to pass between them for the remaining time and could not make an attempt. It was an unfathomable 26 seconds that summarized an entire night of basketball. Nothing made sense anymore.

Morris, covering the game in Peoria for the Enquirer, was using an old portable computer, which was likely a gigantic box with a tiny screen. During one of the overtime periods, the ball went out of play. It could've landed anywhere, maybe harmlessly against someone's leg in the front row. It did not. It landed directly on top of the computer. In an interview years later with NCAA.com, Morris said that "everything disappeared" off the screen. "The sound, it was so loud," she said.

The fifth overtime was underway. Voise Winters hit an 18-footer to give Bradley a two-point lead, and Cincinnati could not answer on the following possession. The Braves got the ball back and hit two free throws to make it 71-67 Bradley. Given the pace of play, it seemed like the game may finally be out of reach for the Bearcats.

Cincinnati responded with two free throws of their own to make it a two-point game yet again, at which point they had no choice but to foul Winters. He stepped up for a one-and-one, hoping to put the game away.

He missed.

Cincinnati got the ball back, and Gaffney tied the game at 71 on a baseline jumper with 14 seconds remaining. Bradley missed their own attempt with five seconds left, and Gaffney missed a last-ditch effort from 35 feet. It seemed like the spectacle was never going to end.

The sixth overtime came and went after the two teams traded a bucket, but more importantly, UC's Gaffney and Jones each fouled out. The two had combined for 23 rebounds and 33 of the Bearcats' 73 points to that point. This could be the final blow to a team already beyond exhaustion.

Enter Doug Schloemer.

Schloemer, a senior guard and former Kentucky Mr. Basketball in high school, was a role player. Across four seasons, he would average about 3.3 points per game. His number is not in the rafters, but he's about to become the protagonist in this story.

Funny enough, he was also a protagonist in the game against Miami. He posted six points and six assists, and UC coach Ed Badger said after the game that "Schloemer saved our life in the first half."

They would need similar heroics in the seventh overtime. Schloemer got them here, tying the game in 6OT with a 20-foot shot from the left side of the court. The seventh overtime started in an eerily similar, scoreless fashion. Four and a half minutes passed, with neither side being able to put the ball in the basket until, once again, Cincinnati had the chance to end it.

Johnson had the ball for Cincinnati, and it seemed like he would be the one to try it this time. He drove the lane, maybe looking for a layup or to draw contact. He did neither. When asked after the game about who he wanted to take the shot, Coach Ed Badger simply responded, "Anybody that was open." 

There was someone open. It was Doug Schloemer.

Johnson passed it to him, and with three seconds left, Schloemer took the chance. He double-clutched the shot but still got it off from fifteen feet out. With the ball floating through the air, the players and what remained of the crowd endured a few seconds that may have felt like the longest part of the three-hour and fifteen-minute affair.

It went in. The game was over. 75-73 Cincinnati, in an unthinkable seven overtimes.

After he made the shot, Schloemer threw his arms in the air and jumped onto his teammates. "I always wanted that shot," he said after the game. Of the 276 points he scored during his time as a Bearcat, the four he produced on his last two shots of the game are the ones that are now etched in history. 

After the game, Badger told reporters, "It took me five overtimes to get a drink of water" and that "I thought I was a camel." The next day, newspapers mentioned the game in headlines nationwide, ranging from the Santa Cruz Sentinel in California to The Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota. It broke the record for the longest game in NCAA history, with the previous record being a six-overtime affair between Minnesota and Purdue in 1955. To this day, the record stands.

There's something both beautiful and incomprehensible about this game. Even though it delivered more than 75 minutes of game action, virtually no photographic evidence exists. It has this sort of mystique about it that only those in the building who were there to witness it could describe. It involved broken computers, role players becoming heroes, and a coach who was more than likely dehydrated. It almost feels like the game was played for the specific purpose of creating a bizarre moment in history.

Ken Rappoport, an AP sportswriter, wrote the column that was syndicated across the country, describing the game. He opened the story with, "It was one of those games that you could play again and again."

I highly doubt either team would want to do that.