The overturned decision turned the game on its head.
Instead of giving Texas the ball and a chance to tir the game, Virginia went up the other end and extended their lead.
Just like that — with the scores at 77-73 — Texas' spirit was broken.
The Red Raiders refused to go away earlier in the frenetic finish and took their first lead of the second half at 66-65 with 35 seconds on the clock in regulation time.
Two clutch free throws to Norense Odiase made it a three-point lead before Virginia's De'Andre Hunter hit nothing but net from the corner to tie it at 68-68 with 12 seconds remaining.
Jarrett Culver's attempt to retake the lead struck iron but Hunter — after grabbing the rebound — inexplicably through the ball away in a moment of panic to give the Raiders one last chance with one second to make a tie-breaking score.
Culver's desperate attempt from the corner was blocked and the game headed to overtime.
Hunter gave Virginia an early lead from the foul line before Matt Mooney followed a clutch triple with a jump shot in all sorts of traffic to put Texas Tech up 73-70.
But Virginia came straight back as Kyle Guy made two free throws and Hunter hit another corner three for a 75-73 advantage with two minutes remaining.
A key call went against Davide Moretti resulting in a Texas Tech turnover and it was all Virginia from there as they made an 11-0 run to put the game away.
Hunter emerged as the star Virginia desperately needed in the second half as he exploded to finish with 27 points and nine rebounds.
Guy also had 24 points for the first-time champions — enough to see him voted the Final Four's most outstanding player after his crucial foul shots sent Virginia to the national title game.
Brandone Francis led Texas with 17 points on a night where five players all reached double-digits in scoring for the the runners-up.
It just wasn't quite enough.
The game didn't appear to be headed for a classic as Texas Tech crawled out of the blocks and was down 17-7 after 10 minutes. But the third-seed rallied and reeled off a 16-4 run to take the lead late in the first half.
Virginia steadied to take a 32-29 advantage into halftime and was starting to break away up 53-43 with 10 minutes to play.
It went right down to the wire from there — and only the contentious referee decision in overtime and Virginia's cool heads down the stretch proved to be the difference.
Recent NCAA men's basketball champions
2019 — Virginia (defeated Texas 85-77)
2018 — Villanova (defeated Michigan 79-62)
2017 — North Carolina (defeated Gonzaga 71-65)
2016 — Villanova (defeated North Carolina 77-74)
2015 — Duke (defeated Wisconsin 68-63)
2014 — Connecticut (defeated Kentucky 60-54)
