DAYTON, Ohio — Darnell Edge was resigned to his fate. He was going to prep school — not because of grades, but out of necessity.

He didn’t have a single Division I or II offer, it was the middle of July, and he had already graduated high school. Edge was playing in an AAU tournament during the live period in Springfield, Mass., when an opponent didn’t show up, giving his team a slot later in the day against the Mass Rivals, a loaded program full of Division I players.

It was the break Edge needed. He had a big game, and was seen by then-Fairleigh Dickinson assistant coach Grant Billmeier. Soon, he would have his first scholarship offer. A few weeks later, he was headed to play Division I basketball.

“It was fate,” the 6-foot-2 sharpshooter recalled.

Five years later, he wrote his name into the FDU record books, scoring 33 points in the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament win, a come-from-behind 82-76 victory Tuesday over Prairie View A&M at Dayton Arena. Edge, the nation’s fourth-best 3-point shooter by percentage, and the Knights will meet No. 1 Gonzaga in a West Region first-round game Friday night in Salt Lake City.

“We’re riding a nine-game win streak, and we’re playing our best basketball right now,” he said. “You see what happened with UMBC and Virginia last year. Anything can happen in March Madness.”

Such an opportunity wouldn’t have been possible without Billmeier. He had time to kill that day, and opted to watch the Mass Rivals. He noticed Edge then, who was listed as a 2015 recruit, the only player in that class in the game. He figured he was a non-qualifier. But his AAU coach gave him the backstory, that Edge was likely headed to Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut because of lack of exposure coming from tiny Saugerties, N.Y.

“He kind of just slipped through the cracks,” Billmeier, now an assistant coach at Seton Hall, said. “Sometimes in recruiting, you get a little lucky.”

Billmeier called his boss, FDU coach Greg Herenda, and told him they needed to go hard after Edge. The Knights had one remaining scholarship Herenda was planning to keep open. But after watching Edge the following weekend, those plans changed. A few days later, after a conversation with Herenda, Edge finally had that offer he had long coveted. When Edge got off the phone, tears of joy ran down his cheek.

“I knew all my hard work over the years finally went noticed,” he said. “To be given that opportunity, it was everything I wanted.”

He’s made the most of that chance, getting better each season and playing in two NCAA Tournaments. This year he was an All-NEC first-team selection and averaged 16.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Most important, according to Herenda, has been his leadership. Edge kept the team together when it started 1-4 in the Northeast Conference and did it again Tuesday night, keeping the Knights in the game after they fell behind 19-6 early on.

“If any of the kids that are watching this tournament — I know you want to watch Zion [Williamson] and all the great ones; so do I — but these are the heroes,” Herenda said. “These are the heroes, the kids that are like the people watching TV that get better every day.”

Edge and FDU aren’t done quite yet. They have at least one game left. But no matter what happens against the Zags, he’ll always have the first March Madness moment of the 2019 tournament, throwing the ball in the air at the horn, celebrating with his euphoric teammates. He’ll always have these four years at FDU.

“I’m just very grateful,” Edge said.

Start Fast

It’s obviously always important to start well, but especially for a 16-seed, to create doubt for the heavy favorite. FDU is also coming off a comeback victory and will be on short rest, so it would clearly be beneficial for the Knights to be playing from ahead this time.

Holloway creates hope

Forward Mike Holloway Jr. has to stay out of foul trouble. At 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, the senior has the size and strength to match Gonzaga’s big men in the paint and on the glass. If he’s out, however, Rui Hachimura and Co. will run wild.

Shoot the 3

The 3-point shot can be a great equalizer, and FDU has to be hot from deep to pull off a stunner. It is one of the nation’s best longest-distance shooting teams, hitting on 40.3 percent from downtown, led by senior Darnell Edge, the country’s fourth-most accurate marksman from distance at 46.9 percent.