Watch: March Madness arrives early in Arizona as Mesquite advances to state championship game on 'shot of the century'

In what longtime Arizona high school sports writer Richard Obert described as the state's "shot of the century," Mesquite (Gilbert) advanced to the 4A state championship Tuesday night on a wild, three-quarter court buzzer beater by Nate Calmese, giving the Wildcats a 74-73 win over St. Mary's.

See the shot that earned the No. 1 spot on SportCenter's Top 10 Plays in the video above.

Mesquite trailed 73-68 with 12 seconds remaining before Calmese found Elijah Foster on the right wing for a 3-pointer to cut things to 73-71 prior to the unexpected final possession.

With two seconds remaining, St. Mary's inbounded the ball from under its own basket to the opposite 3-point line. The ball was tipped away from its intended target by Calmese, who then launched the ball from beyond half-court as time expired to give Mesquite a miraculous victory.

Calmese, a 6-foot-2 unsigned senior guard, finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the win.

The shot will be debated for years to come by Arizona high school basketball fans, especially those from St. Mary's. Other angles suggest that perhaps the ball was still in Calmese's hands when the clock struck 0.0 and the horn sounded.

Regardless, Mesquite (26-3) is moving on. The Wildcats, in search of their first state championship, are set to face No. 1 seed Salpointe Catholic (Tucson) in Monday night's title game.

Calmese is averaging 31.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.7 steals per contest this season and owns offers from Nevada, Portland State and UC Santa Barbara.