It wasn't just a win

By Andrew Neumann
Collegian Staff
February 20, 2008

I was accepted to La Salle Feb. 7, 2004. That day, my future school lost on national TV to the number-two team in the nation, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. It was a harbinger of things to come.

As I sat in the Palestra Monday night for my last game in that historic venue as a student, things had come full circle. Saint Joe’s hammered the Explorers on my first official day as an Explorer. Then they did it to us three times while I was here. I settled into my first row “seat” more than half an hour before the game. I have to admit, my hopes were not high. The Hawks came into the game in second place in the A-10 and owners of a winning streak over La Salle dating back to 2001. Come night class or high water, I wasn’t going to miss this game.

When I first got to 20th and Olney four years ago, the school’s basketball team was still reeling from that summer’s scandal. Morale around campus was low, but they persevered, and the next year they were an 18-win team. Up until two days ago, my fondest La Salle basketball memory was when the team beat Temple at the Tom Gola Arena and broke the long Big-5 losing streak. The program appeared to finally be emerging from the decade of losing and scandal that had run the program into irrelevance around Philly and even around our campus.

But then a disappointing season from a young team seemed to halt the progress last year. The team failed to make the A-10 tournament and didn’t start the season much better this year. They had improved in the last four weeks or so, but the bulge in the win column was not forthcoming in a tough conference. It appeared that the team was on its way to a low A-10 seed and an ouster in the first round of the tournament.

But then Rodney Green crashed the boards and slammed home an errant shot by Yves Mekongo Mbala to give the Explorers an 88-86 lead with 1:02 left. 62 seconds from the sweetest victory a Class of 2008 student could hope for. Kimmani Barrett hit a circus lay-up with 20 seconds left to make it 90-87. 20 seconds: a basketball eternity. Timeout St. Joe’s. I looked over to my left at my roommate. We’ve seen all these games together, from the radio booth or from the stands. We won an award for our radio broadcast of a La Salle game against the Hawks from two years ago. Ironically, it was a five-minute clip of the Exploreres falling apart right as the second half started. Not this year.

The Hawks came out of the timeout and got a quick lay-up. 90-89 now, 10 seconds left. Darnell Harris went to the line for a one-and-one. He’s a senior. No way he wants to go his entire college career without beating our biggest rival. No way he misses this shot.

And then he missed it.

The Hawks take it down the floor now, and it’s all but inevitable: we’ve come so close and are going to come up emptyhanded. Tasheed Carr turns the ball over—La Salle ball with 1.4 seconds left. Green is fouled on the inbound pass. One second stands between us and the pandemonium of an Explorer victory. One second before four years of mostly losing basketball is vindicated by a huge upset at the Palestra. Green misses the first shot. Then a lane violation on the second. The doubt returns.

The inbound is deflected and somehow comes down in St. Joe’s player’s hands. He lays it up: no good. There’s a moment of disbelief that gives way to elation. We storm the floor and mob the players. I’ve always wondered what to do if I ever stormed a court. Well I found the answer Monday night. You hug people you don’t know, congratulate the players and soak in the sweet nectar of despondent Hawk fans staring in disbelief. The bus was a mad house. The party at my house lasted into the wee hours. Some of the freshmen and sophomores there were excited, and rightfully so. But to me, you had to live through the rape scandal, the losing, the heartbreak of close losses and the dominance at the hands of St. Joe’s to fully appreciate Monday night.

As I watched the highlights one last time before bed, I realized how bad it would have been if I had seen La Salle win the day I got accepted into school, rather than get crushed. It would have spoiled me. It would have made Monday night much less special. I couldn’t ask for a better send-off as a La Salle student-fan than I got Monday night at the Palestra. There will be other, bigger wins that I’ll see. But I’ll be sitting in a chair, on the alumni side of things. But for one night, I got to rush the court and celebrate a program coming back from the depths to shock its biggest rival. Nothing could ever top that.

neumanna1@lasalle.edu