TAMPA, Fla. — It was the shot of his life, and the shot of the tournament.

“It kind of worked out good,” Ty Rogers said, in the understatement of the day.

Rogers hit a desperation 26-foot 3-pointer with three defenders in his face and no time on the clock, and 12th-seeded Western Kentucky turned in the upset of the NCAA tournament, beating Drake 101-99 in overtime Friday in the first round of the West Regional.

The game was the first of four upsets at Tampa on Friday — the four biggest upsets of the tournament to date.

Later in the day, San Diego stunned No. 4 seed Connecticut 70-69 in another overtime game decided in the final seconds to set up a Sunday game against Western Kentucky, while in the Midwest Regional, No. 13 seed Siena beat Vanderbilt 83-62 and No. 12 seed Villanova rallied to top Clemson 75-69.

In the first game of the day, the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (28-5) overcame a 16-point deficit in the final 8 minutes of regulation and led 99-98 after Jonathan Cox’s two free throws with 5.7 seconds to play. But Tyrone Brazelton raced across midcourt and kicked it to Rogers, whose 3 from the wing gave the Hilltoppers (28-6) their first tournament victory since 1995.

Brazelton finished with a career-high 33 points for Western Kentucky.

Cox had a career-high 29 points and 16 boards for Drake, which was making its first tournament appearance since 1971.

Rogers’ final shot was the 30th 3-pointer of the game, breaking the previous NCAA mark set by West Virginia and Louisville two years ago.

Western Kentucky and Drake combined for 70 3-point attempts, also breaking the previous record of 66 set by UCLA and Cincinnati in 2002.

Rogers danced his way back to the other end of the floor, where he was mobbed by teammates across from the dejected Drake bench. The celebration moved back to the other end, where the senior reserve pounded his chest before the Hilltopper faithful.

Brazelton said the winning play was designed to get the ball to the rim — since the Hilltoppers only trailed by one. But coming out of the timeout, Rogers told Brazelton he had a slightly different plan in mind.

“He said, ‘Don’t be afraid to kick it to me,’” Brazelton said.

And he wasn’t. Brazelton crossed halfcourt, zigged to his right and threw a perfect pass right to Rogers’ hands for the game-winner.

The Hilltoppers reject the notion that they’re just another mid-major team trying to make a name for themselves in the NCAA tournament. They have a history of success that proves they belong.

Although it was their first victory on college basketball’s biggest stage since a six-point overtime win against Michigan in the opening round in 1995, the Hilltoppers are in the tourney for the 20th time. They’ll try for their first trip to the round of 16 since 1993 on Sunday.

Brazelton led a dazzling display of 3-point shooting, and the Hilltoppers were literally beating Drake at its own game while building a 76-58 lead with 8 minutes to go. They finished 14-of-28 from beyond the arc, with Brazelton going 6-for-10.

Skeptics questioned how Drake, which had a 21-game winning streak from Nov. 14 to Feb. 13, would hold up under the pressure of such a high seed in its first NCAA appearance in 37 years.

For 32 minutes, not so well.

The Bulldogs trailed 74-56 before pulling themselves out of a funk that began during a stretch in which they missed eight consecutive 3-point shots and watched the Hilltoppers pull away to a nine-point halftime lead.

Cox keyed Drake’s comeback, capping a 30-14 run with a 3 that made it 88-88 with 30 seconds to go. Josh Young also heated up at the right time for the Missouri Valley Conference champions, making three straight 3s to help the Bulldogs catch up and take a 96-92 lead in overtime.

Klayton Korver scored 21 and Young finished with 18, but they combined with Drake’s other big scorer, Leonard Houston, to go 11-of-35 on 3-pointers.

MVC player of the year Adam Emmenecker also struggled from the field, going 0-for-10, although none of those shots were among the 42 3s that Drake took. The former walk-on went 11-of-12 from the foul line and had 14 assists.

A half-hour after Rogers hit the last shot and started a Hilltopper hoo-rah, the scene in the Drake locker room was eerily silent.

“We just fell one possession short,” Drake coach Keno Davis said. “But as a coach, you’ve got to be pretty proud of your team’s effort, especially today.”

San Diego 70, Connecticut 69, OT

De’Jon Jackson’s pull-up jumper just inside the 3-point line with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime gave 13th-seeded San Diego its first win in four tries in the NCAA tournament.

Gyno Pomare had 22 points, Brandon Johnson hit four 3-pointers and had 18 points, and the small school known for its scenic ocean views is headed to a second-round game with 12th-seeded Western Kentucky.

But both of San Diego’s stars fouled out in overtime.

Jackson picked up the slack. He drove right on Jerome Dyson, stopped a step inside the arc, then sank the biggest shot of his career.

The celebration had to wait, though.

UConn had one final chance, but Jackson intercepted the inbound pass. The Toreros rushed the court, mobbed their hero and then celebrated in front of a small group of fans who traveled cross-country to see them make history.

“This feeling right now, I can’t even explain it,” Jackson said. “It’s like the best feeling I’ve had in my life.”

The Huskies (24-9) were inconsistent all season, but had an excuse in this one. They played most of the game without leading scoring A.J. Price, who injured his left knee in the first half and did not return.

“The thing I put on the board: Don’t let them get a sniff that we’re two equal teams,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “We allowed them to believe that it wasn’t going to be what everybody said it was going to be.”

San Diego (22-13) took advantage, pulling out to an 11-point lead early in the second half.

Siena 83, Vanderbilt 62

Kenny Hasbrouck scored 30 points, Tay Fisher added 19 on 6-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, and 13th-seeded Siena stunned Vandy to become the first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team to reach the second round since Manhattan in 2004.

“I really don’t consider it an upset,” Fisher said. “I have confidence in my team and I knew we could hang with anybody in the country.”

Until now, Siena (23-10) was best-known for a first-round upset over Stanford in 1989 — a 14 seed over a 3. This one might have been just as shocking.

A.J. Ogilvy scored 18 points for Vanderbilt (26-8), which got 13 from SEC player of the year Shan Foster — who became the 22nd player in SEC history to eclipse the 2,000-point career mark — and 10 from Ross Neltner. The Commodores came into the tournament more than a little miffed that they were widely picked to be a first-round upset victim and insisted they wouldn’t look past Siena.

Vanderbilt simply couldn’t stop Siena, either.

“All season long, I didn’t get this team to play defensively the way it had to play on a consistent basis for us to win, the way we wanted to win,” Vandy coach Kevin Stallings said. “Again, 26-8 is not a terrible year. But we just never were consistent defensively and again, that’s my responsibility. Completely my responsibility. I just wasn’t able to push the right buttons.”

Villanova 75, Clemson 69

Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, Corey Fisher added 17 and the 12th-seeded Wildcats gave this NCAA tournament pod its fourth upset in four games.

Villanova, which has more wins as a lower-seeded team in the tournament than any program since 1979, overcame an 18-point deficit for this win.

The Wildcats trailed 36-18 with 5 minutes to play in the first half. But they made their 3-pointers — Reynolds made his first three after the break — and slowly sliced into the big lead.

Reynolds’ bucket gave Villanova its first lead of the game, 50-49 with 11:56 remaining.

Demontez Stitt led the Tigers with 14 points. K.C. Rivers Jr. added 12, and Terrence Oglesby finished with 11.

Tampa is the first site in NCAA history to have four 12 or lower seeds win. In fact, no other had done it more than twice.