Photographer was on the scene for Ainge's famed drive

The drive and the score.

That Danny Ainge play against Notre Dame 26 years ago remains among the most famous finishes in college basketball history, and seeing the former Cougar all-American in the Marriott Center this week at the Cougar Holiday Classic, one can't help think of that mad-dash dagger flung at the Fighting Irish in the Omni in Atlanta.

Ainge, whose No. 22 jersey hangs in the rafters of the Marriott Center, watched his oldest son, Austin, score BYU's final five points, a total of 16 coming off the bench, in the Cougars' 77-68 win Saturday over Seton Hall.

Ainge says folks continue to come up and comment on the play, rated by ESPN as the No. 6 greatest finish in college history.

"People either love or hate Notre Dame, and they'll come up and congratulate me if they hate them and say 'Why did you have to do that to us' if they love them," Ainge said.

One person who was courtside that night in Atlanta is professional photographer Doug Martin of Provo, who was also courtside with Danny Ainge on Saturday night.

Back in the day, BYU's athletic department wasn't sophisticated enough to send a still photographer along with the Cougars to the NCAA tournament. Today, they have an award-winning photographer, Mark Philbrick (hired in 1976), who has chronicled big BYU plays the past two decades, including the definitive "Answered Prayer" reception by Jonny Harline to end the BYU-Utah game last month.

But just out of college a few years, Martin, a prolific freelance journalist, caught that Ainge dribble and score with his motor-driven Cannon. It was a thrilling moment and series of shots he continues to receive requests for reprints to this very day.

Martin, who helps do statistics for BYU football and basketball, has had his photographs published in Germany's Bunte, Paris Match, Star, US, People, Business Week, The Enquirer and all major worldwide wire services. His most famous photos were exclusives of kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst before she turned herself into federal authorities. When Jimmy Carter pardoned Hearst for her role in a bank robbery, Martin's exclusives were purchased again and recycled across the world because they are the only pictures taken of her and her fiance bodyguard at the time.

If you've seen the poster of Ty Detmer in a tuxedo, spinning a football with the Heisman Trophy, that's Martin's studio setup shot.