Not many thought it would happen.
Milan was a town with a population of 1,150 in 1954, and only 162 students were enrolled in its high school that year. No school of Milan's size or smaller had won the state championship in 39 years; Thorntown was the last, in 1915.
And yet, with 18 seconds remaining, Milan and Muncie Central were tied at 30 points when Milan called a time-out.
After the time-out, Milan's Bobby Plump received the ball during the ensuing possession, said a prayer and, with three seconds remaining on the clock, put up a jump shot.
The "Mighty Men" of Milan became state champions on March 20, 1954, and secured their position in Indiana basketball history.
Fifty years later, this game still holds importance.
"People talk about Hoosier Hysteria," men's basketball coach Tim Buckley said. "But you don't really know what it is until you've experienced it. Obviously, this game is part of that."
In his speech on Wednesday, Phil Raisor compared it to the assassination of John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King -- one of those moments where people can remember where they were.
"For some people, this may have been that fusing moment," he said.
Morry Mannies, who has been doing broadcasts of Muncie Central and Ball State sports for 48 years, remembers that day well.
"As I recall, I was in my folks' living room watching it on TV, a black and white television. I was a junior at Peru at the time, and, like everyone else in the state, other than those who lived in Muncie, I was rooting for Milan," he said.
The event was an important event in Muncie history and, therefore, in Ball State history.
"Basketball's a very important thing here (in Muncie). There's a good relationship with all the different high school programs, youth leagues and the university, too," Buckley said.
On that fateful night, as the presentation of the Trester award began, one fan shouted "give it to Plump," and the crowd cheered.
Plump was awarded the Trester award, breaking an IHSAA tradition of giving the award to a member of the defeated team.
"I've become pretty good friends with Bobby Plump," Mannies said, "and one thing I've asked him is, 'What would you have done had you missed the shot?' because he was 2-10 in that game, and he said, 'I'd still be pumping gas in Milan.'"
Because he made the shot, Plump went on to get a scholarship to play at Butler, and even helped the Bulldogs score a few victories over the Cardinals. He also owns an eatery in Indianapolis, Plump's Last Shot.
While the Milan win is viewed by many as the greatest underdog victory in Indiana high school basketball history, it wasn't completely unexpected, as Raisor made clear in his speech.
"Our consciousness of the small school had already been built in sectionals and regionals. It really wasn't the David and Goliath syndrome everyone thought it was," he said. "As I looked back, and newspaper articles -- a lot of writers were not surprised that Milan was in the finals."
Mannies, on the other hand, still thinks that, while the Milan victory was not unexpected, the team was the consensus underdog.
"I think that everyone who was there, all the (Muncie) players, and even Bobby Plump all say that Muncie would win most of the time," he said. "Say, if they played 100 times, Muncie may have walked away with 99 of them."
That night, even with the loss to Milan, the Bearcats were not down on themselves.
"We lost playing it to the hilt," Muncie Central's coach Jim McCreary said, according to a 1954 AP article by Ron Gilbert. "I wouldn't change a thing -- except maybe the final score."
Even as Milan was receiving its awards and cheers, the team came down as the Muncie Central players were leaving and congratulated the Bearcats on a good game.
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