It was a moment he will never forget.

“As time was running out, I was out there dribbling the ball and I was feeling the adrenaline rush,” Norris Cole was saying Friday night, a little less than 24 hours after the eyes of much of the world had been on him.

“It was just such an exciting time. I looked over at our bench and I made eye contact with our coach and I saw everybody was all smiles.”

With their 121-106 triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, Cole and the rest of the Miami Heat — the most watched, debated and, in the end, unconquerable team in all of basketball — clinched the NBA title.

As the Miami crowd chanted “Let’s Go Heat!” and the long, white wiggly streamers and snowstorm of confetti began to fall from above, Cole’s parents — Norris Sr. and Diane — began to work their way through the masses.

“At the end of the game, we made a mad rush to be with him and be one of the first ones to say congratulations,” Norris Sr. said of his son, the Heat’s unflappable rookie point guard from Dunbar High School. “We kind of connected our arms and pushed our way there so we could get to the stage they put up on the court. “

When they got there, they got some help, Diane said: “The guys let Norris know what side of the stage we were on so he could get over to us and we could reach out and at least touch him. The whole thing was just such an awesome, awesome experience.”

And it continued once the Heat left the floor, Norris said:

“I got my mom and dad into the team dressing room. I wanted them to be a part of everything. And after that, we celebrated at the arena until at least 3 in the morning.”

From there, he said he, his teammates, coaches and team owner Micky Arison went to LIV nightclub on South Beach, where they were entertained by the rap group LMFAO and it was reported they spent over $200,000 for champagne.

Friday night Cole was still bubbly: “I could barely get to sleep. It’s just starting to sink in. I’m on Cloud 9.”

While he might be floating now, he showed himself to be remarkably grounded throughout his first pro season, and especially in these last two games of the finals. Although he backs up starter Mario Chalmers, he played some quality minutes in Thursday night’s title-clincher and on Tuesday night — in Game 4 — he came off the bench late in first quarter with the Heat down by 11 and promptly scored eight points in just under 6 ½ minutes. When he returned to the sideline, his revitalized team trailed by two and would go on to topple the Thunder.

“This has all been a real blessing,” Cole said. “Not everybody gets to play college ball, then get drafted and, I mean, drafted to the most-watched team that turns out to be the best team in the NBA. It’s like a storybook ending.”

As for the beginning of his basketball odyssey, that came, he said, when he was a little boy and his family still lived on College View Drive in Dayton: “I had a Fisher Price hoop in the basement. It’s small — it barely goes to four feet — but that’s where I made my first baskets. Then my grandpa got me my first regulation rim and I had it up at my grandpa and grandma’s house.

“From there it’s been a steady progression — playing for the Salvation Army, winning a title at Fairview Middle School, winning two state titles at Dunbar and a couple of Horizon League championships when I was at Cleveland State. Now I’ve won a title at the highest level — the NBA — and I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”

When he came to the Heat as a first-round draft pick this season, he joined a team loaded with the marquee talent of NBA Finals MVP LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“They raise the level of play for everybody — the opponent’s level, our own team’s level and their own level,” he said. “Playing with those guys you get to see something special every night.”

And yet, Cole, who averaged 6.8 points a game this season, wasn’t intimidated:

“I think it has to do with the way I was raised in Dayton. It has to do with my family and having to compete on whatever team I was on. That all helped me once I got to the NBA.

“I just kept remembering it’s still basketball, the game I’ve been playing my whole life. So there was no reason to go out there and be nervous and star-struck. It’s the game I love to play.”

As for that clutch performance in Game 4 — afterward teammate James Jones called him “the man of the hour” — Cole laughed and said, “Man, it was just living in the moment. That’s what you work for — to be able to showcase your talents on the biggest stage there is.”

Next comes a victory parade through downtown Miami on Monday and in late July he plans to host a youth basketball camp back in Dayton at the Kroc Center on North Keowee St.

“It’s just about never forgetting where you come from,” he said. “I want to give back to the community. That’s part of what the NBA championship is about for me. I’m just glad I can bring it back to Dayton.”