LAS VEGAS – Dana Altman was focused on getting top-seeded Oregon mentally prepared for an overtime nail biter against fourth seeded Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.

After going 2-for-7 at the charity stripe the last few minutes in front of a deafening MGM Grand Garden Arena crowd, Oregon had a meltdown and crept the door open just enough for lefty big man Mark Tollefsen to get fouled and have the game in his hands with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

Tollefsen, who logged all of five total minutes, walked up to the line with Arizona trailing 77-76.

Behind him, a red sea of rejuvenated Wildcats fans lost their mind and voices as the Oregon bench helplessly watched from the sidelines. They couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“I’ve never been in a situation at the end of regulation like that,” Tyler Dorsey, who finished with 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep, said. “It was a crazy situation, but we know we couldn’t hang our heads.”

A nerve-racking silence blanketed the arena.

The first one rimmed out, the second swooshed through.

“He missed a free throw for us, so we knew we had to jump on them,” Dorsey said.

Overtime.

“We really made that tough on ourselves,” Dana Altman said. “They hit shots, they did a great job. But we hurt ourself.”

Let’s back up to the nine-minute mark in the second half when Oregon forward Dwayne Benjamin took a hard fall and landed awkwardly on his left foot. Slow to get up, a gingerly Benjamin limped through one more possession before hobbling to the locker room for examination. Based on Benjamin’s grimacing look on his face, it didn’t look good.

Even Benjamin said he didn’t think “at first” that he would return.

Awaiting a definite answer, Pac-12 Network Sideline Reporter Jill Savage initially reported Benjamin would be unlikely to return.

She was dead wrong.

“I know Dwayne, he’s tough,” Dylan Ennis said. “I knew he was going to come back and that’s what he did. He put that injury behind him, he came out and hit some big shots.”

All of five minutes on the game clock had ticked off before the Lafayette, Louisiana native, with the help of some Tylenol — two to be exact — and good taping, willed his way back to the Oregon bench.

“I took some Tylenol, I just decided that I’d try to play for my teammates,” Benjamin said. “Clay (Jamieson) taped me up right and he felt like I was good enough to go. I went back in.”

At the 3:09 mark in overtime, the second coming of Willis Reed took the form of a banged up Benjamin as the senior forward quickly changed back into playing attire before checking in at the scorers table.

In Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Knicks center Reed returned to the floor from “the bowels” of the locker room after tearing his right thigh muscle two games before, igniting the Knicks to its first title.

This wasn’t the NBA Finals. But this was Oregon’s most anticipated game of the year with title hopes on the line.

On his first offensive possession back, Benjamin caught a pass from Jordan Bell on the right corner, and without hesitation, knocked down a three that gave Oregon an 83-80 lead with 2:47 to play.

“My teammates did a good job of continuing to fight when one of went down,” an exhausted Benjamin said. “I just felt like I wanted to make a play for my teammates and Jordan got the ball to me. I just made the shot for him.”

The rest is history.

“It was ecstatic,” Dillon Brooks, who finished with 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, said. “We were ready to play defense, ready to grab rebounds. When people hit big shots, it gets the whole team going.”

Before Oregon escaped its 9-of-20 shooting at the line in regulation and advanced to the conference tournament final via a 95-89 overtime win, Altman was planning to play without Benjamin. Then, Benjamin returned. Then, with the game on the line, he checked in with Altman just seconds before cementing himself in the minds of every present fan.

“It’s crazy man,” Ennis said. “If you could see of the sideline … it was wild when he hit that shot.”

As the buzzer echoed throughout an Arizona-dominated arena, all Benjamin could do was flash his million dollar smile and throw up an “O” to the small section of Oregon fans across the court. His teammates were right there with him to celebrate.

“It’s whatever,” Benjamin said about coming back from his toe injury. “It’s for these guys. I just put the team before myself and said anything I can do, I was going to do for them.”