Juan Dixon had college basketball on fire 15 years ago, leading the University of Maryland to its first and only national championship.

And round by round of the Terrapins' magical run during the 2002 NCAA Tournament had commentators retelling the gut-wrenching story about the rail-thin, 6-foot-3 guard having overcome the loss of both of his parents, Juanita and Phil Dixon, who were heroin addicts and died after contracting HIV when he was just a teenager.

As gripping as Dixon's life story was, part of it was a lie. His dad wasn't dead. He was very much alive.

Part of tonight's episode of Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, airing from 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET on HBO, follows Dixon, now 38, as he learns the true identity of his biological dad, Bruce Flanigan, and meets the man for the first time.

BET.com had an advance screening of the segment and, we must say, it's chilling.

Just imagine going through adolescence and a chunk of your adult life thinking that your father was dead, only to find out that he was alive and willing to have an improbable reunion, which finally took place last summer.

"Time will heal," Dixon says during the segment, referring to his dad and himself being able to make up for many lost years while overcoming any lingering resentment.

As the nation watched him lead the Terrapins into the 2002 tournament, eventually winning the national title and Most Outstanding Player honors, one person knew that the story broadcasters kept sharing wasn't true. That person was Bruce Flanigan — Juan's real father.

"I said, 'That's my son,'" Flanigan says in the segment, himself a former All-City Baltimore hoops star. "His demeanor, the way he smiled ... it was just an image of me out there on the floor."

His mind started to race as he jogged his memory to eventually pinpoint back to when he had a brief relationship with a woman who was separated from her husband at the time. That woman was Juanita Dixon, Juan's mom.

But since Flanigan had missed out on his son's entire youth, he didn't want to suddenly jump into Juan's life, so he fell back and laid low. Plus, Flanigan had a family of his own. 

That being said, he kept enough of a close distance to watch Dixon get drafted by the Washington Wizards as the 17th overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and to get married and have kids of his own. Still, Flanigan chose to stay away.

The HBO segment proceeds to share how Baltimore's 'Smalltimore" nickname of everyone knowing everyone paved the way for the news about Bruce being Juan's dad to be broke at Dixon's family cookout.

Through a family grapevine and a big game of telephone, the two were able to speak. Juan insisted that they meet the next day.

"When I saw him, I was like, 'Oh crap, that's my dad,'" Dixon says. "I could just look at him and tell."

Neither Dixon nor his dad were interested in hashing out the past and discussing their lost time, opting to live in the present and only deal with the now.

It's a moving story, one we think will grip you as much as it did us.

Peep a preview below.

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