There was someone who literally turned up the heat of the celebration. Or at least that’s how the internet saw it. Joe Bessner, operator of the “flame thingy,” seemed to predict the future, lighting the victory fire moments after Miller’s shot fell – a moment that seemed less like timing and more like prophecy.
With SMU down by two and 2.7 seconds left in the game, the Mustangs came in from the other side of the field. Miller caught the inbound pass while running, took one dribble, launched the ball from half court and sank it.
“I think a lot of people in the stands are thinking, ‘Wow, what if this happens? What if they pull this off and it goes in?’ And I thought the same thing,” Bessner shared The Athletics. “I happen to have a slightly more important job than other people sitting in the stands.”
The chaos that preceded the shot only increased the tension. SMU’s Jaron Pierre Jr. grabbed a rebound with 1.7 seconds left after a missed free throw. Both teams called timeouts. The arena held its breath. Finally, BJ Edwards found a streaking Miller, who took two dribbles and launched from half court.
“All I had to do was press one button. I can’t imagine how many hours and hours of training Boopie put into his career. I, like everyone else, was very confident that we would win this one,” he said.
“Me and my partner were ready to watch the fire and hoped it would go in.”
I can’t stop watching Boopie Miller’s half-court buzzer beater.
I’m impressed with the pyrotechnics.
There is IMMEDIATELY fire in the air.
We see flames before the announcer even says, “It’s going!”
It’s MAGICAL. pic.twitter.com/f4AoGpoaQA
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) January 15, 2026
The irony of the moment burned even hotter. The game winner was Miller’s first three-pointer of the night after missing his first five attempts — a cold shooter who chose the most incandescent moment to find his range.
“There’s no delay. There’s no transfer time. It’s instantaneous. … I would have liked to hit the Flames right at the buzzer, but we didn’t win until the ball went in,” Bessner said.
Behind the scenes, the final seconds were treated like living explosives.
“Normally, when there is 30 seconds left on the clock, we put the clock into a safety mode or a warning mode, which means the clock is live,” he said. “For those 30 seconds, even if someone accidentally trips or presses a button, there’s no real danger because our system is not armed and we use that term armed when it’s ready to go.”
However, those last 30 seconds dragged on.
“Those 30 seconds actually lasted almost five to 10 minutes. Every time there was a timeout, I turned the system off and put it back into safety mode, because in those last 30 seconds of the game there were more timeouts than I think anyone expected.”
Ladies and gentlemen, Joe, SMU’s firefighter pic.twitter.com/hF0f8jiX5O
— SMU Basketball (@SMUBasketball) January 15, 2026
It wasn’t the first time he pressed the button with perfect timing.
“During the 2016 NCAA Final Four – it was in San Antonio – it was a similar moment. We shot confetti for that.”
Those moments are now harder to craft. Bessner explains that the NCAA has adopted a rule that prevents confetti from being released until officials leave the court, which requires approval from firefighters, venue staff and NCAA personnel. His company handles the NCAA Final Four and the ACC Championship, where spectacle and safety are key.
This isn’t the only big stage Bessner has played. With 10 years of experience in pyrotechnics, he has participated in multiple Super Bowls and is already preparing for the next one at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
“They never do the same thing twice in the Super Bowl,” he said. “They always try to imagine something new. And so it becomes something that has never been seen before, something that was designed just for that one year. And next year it will be something new again.”
With Super Bowl LX Bad Bunny set to headline halftime, Bessner and his team have every detail mapped out.
“When the team is up, during the halftime show, when there’s a celebration at the end, the national anthem, sometimes they do all those things. Sometimes they do one or two of those things,” he explained. “…When it comes to special effects, that means lasers, smoke machines, fire pyro.”
The pyrotechnics world is a small one, but Bessner says there’s always room for people drawn to the sparks and adrenaline, whether it’s a one-off Fourth of July show or going on tour with Bad Bunny.
“I was always the kid who spent hundreds of dollars on fireworks stands growing up,” he recalls.
For Bessner, the heat of the spotlight was never the point. Pyrotechnics amplifies moments; they don’t create them. The shot did that on its own. Despite the viral moment and the perfectly timed flames that lit up social feeds, Bessner insists Miller is in the spotlight.
“He is one of the most talented basketball players in Texas,” he said. “And I look forward to seeing what he can one day bring to the NBA.”
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