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With barely any time remaining in the game, the ball was in Darweshi Hunter's hands.
 
Hunter was dozens of feet from the basket.
 
There was a defender with a hand in his face.
 
And the next few seconds would likely determine Miami's fate in the contest.

4…
 
3…
 
It's the situation every grade-schooler grows up dreaming about and re-creating in their driveway.
 
Some players will be fortunate enough to experience it at some point in their life in a game that matters.
 
A select few of those dramatic buzzer-beating attempts will actually go in.
 
A storybook ending.
 
The crowd goes wild.
 
The player gets mobbed by their teammates.
 
Their phone blows up (figuratively) with all of the text messages and social media notifications.
 
They might even make it on SportsCenter.
 
2…
 
1…
 
The ball flies through the air.
 
Time seems to stand still…
 
0:00.
 
Spoiler alert: Hunter buried the shot. Miami won the game. You probably knew that already.
 
But here's the crazy part.

Many of the Miami fans reading this story immediately thought back to Friday, Dec. 22 at Millett Hall.
 
That's when Hunter banked in a 30-footer as time expired to lift Miami past Vermont 70-69. The RedHawks had trailed by seven points with just over a minute remaining, but Hunter's heroics at the horn ensured a very happy holiday break for the home team.
 
Other readers were envisioning the events of Saturday, Jan. 20 in Muncie, Ind., as Hunter broke the hearts of Ball State fans with a deep, contested three from the right wing with no time remaining to force overtime. His crucial shot capped a Miami rally from down 11 points with 4:30 left and led to an eventual 87-80 RedHawk victory.
 
The rest of you certainly had this past weekend's thrilling finish in mind. After all, it's the freshest, coming just a few days ago on Jan. 27 in Oxford in a 70-68 nail-biter. Who can forget Hunter calmly raising up for a jump shot with one second left from a step inside the arc to hand first-place Akron its first conference defeat of the season?
 
The shot of a lifetime…three times in less than six weeks?
 
Just another day at the office for Darweshi Hunter.

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It's been quite a journey for Hunter in college basketball.
 
He's played a lot of games in a lot of places over the past five years.
 
In fact, in the very first month of his collegiate career, the product of nearby Princeton High School put up 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in a November 2019 contest at Millett Hall…against Miami.
 
Hunter was playing for NCAA Division II Central State then, based out of Wilberforce, Ohio.
 
He spent the next year with the Weber State Wildcats in Ogden, Utah.
 
The past two seasons, Hunter was back in the Midwest and competing in the Mid-American Conference…but for Northern Illinois. He battled the RedHawks four more times between January 2022 and February 2023, including playing all 45 minutes in an 18-point, seven-rebound performance vs. Miami less than 12 months ago.
 
And when Hunter earned his Bachelor's degree in General Studies from NIU and decided to put his name in the transfer portal, Miami head coach Travis Steele knew from firsthand experience what the veteran wing could add to his program.
 
"He's consistent; that's one of the reasons we brought him in," Steele said. "We played against him last year, and I was really impressed with him on film. I thought I was getting a two-way player, one of the best shooters in the MAC, and a proven commodity…
 
"He's experienced; you can't replace that. He can score it at all three levels: at the rim, mid-range and threes. He's impactful on the defensive end. He plays hard; he's good on the ball.

"When your main players can be two-way guys and impactful on both ends, it gives you a shot."
 
Hunter has been everything Steele hoped for and more, nearly doubling his scoring average over 60 games with the Huskies (6.4 ppg) to rank second on the Miami roster this winter at 12.7 points per game. He has started all 20 contests for the RedHawks, including draining a half-dozen threes in his debut Nov. 6 at Evansville, and has finished in double figures each of the last four outings and 14 times overall.
 
Hunter credits his success in the sport to how he continues to hone his craft and develop his game day-in and day-out. During the highest highs, the lowest lows, and everything in between, Hunter keeps plugging away and trying to improve.
 
"What I learned through my different stops is just, for me personally, to continue to work," Hunter said. "You're going to go through hurdles where you're not playing or you're not playing as well. It's easy to get discouraged and stop going to the gym. You get to feeling bad for yourself, and that's never really the way to get out of something like that.
 
"You've got to push harder and work harder, and that's what Coach tells us here. I've definitely learned that as I've been through my other schools, going through little slumps. It's easy to get discouraged and slack off…there will be gloomy days, but push through that and stick with it…
 
"Just keep your eyes on the prize."
 
Although Hunter is in his first season at Miami, the graduate student was named a team captain this fall, an honor he said he does not take lightly.
 
"I want to set the example for the younger guys," Hunter said. "When I was a freshman, I remember the seniors and juniors I used to look up to, and I wanted to be like them when I got to that point in my career.
 
"[I hope to be] a role model guys can look at. When they think back who helped them become the player that they are today, I want them to think of me: Different stuff they took from my game, or my work ethic, or my discipline, to help them better their game."
 
Steele pointed out that Hunter's drive to be the best extends to little details beyond the hardwood that others might not have the discipline to fine-tune: things like weightlifting, nutrition and even sleep.
 
"When you start to figure out how much those things impact performance, then you have to make the decision to do it. It's easier said than done," Steele said. "Are you disciplined enough to do it? He is…
 
"He treats his game like a pro, and I think that's been great for our younger guys to see. You get rewarded for the work that you put in…
 
"They love him because number one, he's a great teammate…he cares about people, he treats people really well, he can connect, and he's always got a smile on his face.
 
"They also respect him, because he's a good player…the biggest compliment I can give Darweshi is that he's the same guy whether he scores 25 and we win, or if he scores two points and we win.
 
"He doesn't care; he just wants to win."
 
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Away from the court, Hunter is working on a second degree and taking classes in Sport Coaching.
 
"I've really enjoyed [Miami]; it's probably my favorite spot classroom-wise," said Hunter. "The professors, their 'care level' and the way they present the information to reach the students and really have them engaged…it's a great education here, with a lot of resources. We had a career fair [in Millett] that was huge, and the whole arena was packed out. I had never had anything like that."
 
He hopes to be in the gym for decades to come, first as a professional player and then as a coach, teaching the next generation how to play the game.
 
"With my path, I've played a lot of basketball, and hopefully there'll be a lot more…I feel like that's what you should do: Pass on the good information to the kids, and help out others, so I want to do that," Hunter explained.
 
One of the first people Hunter thinks could benefit from his future in coaching is his three-year-old daughter. "We're about to get started training real soon," he laughed. With this final stop on Hunter's college hoops journey being so close to home, it comes with the added benefit of being near family, and it's been a privilege for Hunter to take the floor with his daughter cheering him on in the stands.
 
"She's actually getting basketball now a little bit," he said. "She knows when I'm scoring, and she's at all the games. She's loving it."
 
So what advice would Hunter give his little girl if she ends up following in his footsteps as a basketball standout someday?
 
He thought about the question for a long second, and then he smiled, because Darweshi Hunter always smiles.
 
"Have a jumper," he laughed.
 
"A jumper can take you far."
 
For Darweshi Hunter, it can…and it has.
 
Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures
 
After this week's pair of road tilts at Kent State and Ohio, Hunter and the RedHawks host his former team, Northern Illinois, in Miami's next home game at Millett Hall. Tickets for the clash against the Huskies on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. are available now!