LAS VEGAS – For college basketball fans, Saturday's tense showdown between UCLA and Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game was two hours of nirvana.

It also provided a moment that will linger for years.

With less than three minutes to play and the game hanging in the balance, UCLA's Jordan Adams pried the ball out of Arizona guard Nick Johnson's hands at the top of the key. It caromed into a wide open backcourt. 

[Related video: UCLA tops Arizona, wins first Pac-12 Tournament title since 2008]

The two players in the best position to chase it down, Arizona's Aaron Gordon and UCLA's Travis Wear, weigh a combined 455 pounds. Yet both took off after the ball with a sprinter's grace. 

In the last moment, Wear ducked under Gordon and hit the floor first. The ball was his... but now the end line loomed. Wear called time out as he rolled out of bounds, Gordon's full weight on top of him.

UCLA's ball, 2:29 left. The Bruins went on to win the game, 75-71, in which every possesion counted. 

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"If you ever want to love college basketball, just watch that play," Arizona coach Sean Miller marveled in his postgame press conference. "That was phenomenal."

UCLA coach Steve Alford also sounded like a fan while talking about the moment. 

"That will go down as one of the greatest plays in Pac-12 history," he said.