PHILADELPHIA– It should be way past midnight for the Cinderella from St. Peter’s College.
But here they are still dancing up a storm in this NCAA tournament, a Disney fairy tale come to life.
The 15th seeded Peacocks are suddenly just one game away from the Final Four after disposing of third seeded Big Ten goliath Purdue, 67-64, last night before a roaring sellout crowd at the Wells Fargo Center here.
Someone has sprinkled pixie dust over this group of 10 undervalued, under recruited players who has now disposed of mighty Kentucky, 31-2 7 seed Murray State and the Big Ten co-champions and think they can play with anyone left in this field of 68.
The Peacocks turned their visit to center stage into a giant celebration that stretched from the tiny Jesuit college in Jersey City all the way down the turnpike.
They are the first 15 seed to advance to the Elite Eight and we can only imagine what will happen if they knock off North Carolina here Sunday in the 5 pm. East Regional final.
There are no star players here, no Big East recruits, just gritty kids who overcome the odds of being a 13- point underdog against a team with towering 7-4 center Zach Edey and 6-10, 275-pound Trevion Williams with key defensive stops. St/ Peter’s should be used to this by now. The MAAC champions were an 18.5- point underdog in their overtime victory against Kentucky.
But they never flinched and have built a cult following from the crowds who have fallen in love with this upstart team which is the first double digit underdog to win multiple games since the tournament expanded in 1985.
“We know we’re as good as any team in the country,” guard Matthew Lee said. “As long as we stick to our game, play defense, and give 1000 percent, we feel like we can hang with anybody.”
The Peacocks, who substitute in units, got 14 points from guard Darryl Banks, 11 from 6-7 forward Philadelphia-born Clarence Rupert and 10 from guard Doug Edert, who put an exclamation point in the win by hopping on the scorer’s table ala Kobie Bryant and started to celebrate after the final buzzer.
“I found a little opening and started moving stuff, so I don’t know, I was so excited. Just next question,” Edert said, laughing.
Before the game, St. Peter’s showed up with new shirts that said, “More of possible.”
‘That’s something that we wanted to do,” St. Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway said. “That’s something we believe in, right, so we kind of do– Adidas sent them to us, and we thank them for it.”
St. Peter’s entered this tournament as a 1000-1 shot to win the national tournament. The number is now 50:1.
“We’re making history and we look forward to making more history,” Edert said.
St. Peter’s marched on with suffocating defense that flummoxed the Boilers. Purdue missed its first 10 three-pointer in the second half, turned the ball over 15 times. The turning point occurred when Holloway, down 56-52, went 2-3 zone and the Boliermakers went nearly five minutes without scoring a field goal. The Peacocks outscored Purdue, 15-7, shooting a perfect 11 for 11 from the line in the final 4:02.
Holloway could sense the moment. With St. Peter’s clinging to a four- point lead with 38.1 seconds to play, he was hyping up the crowd for one final stand. I don’t do stuff like that,” he admitted.
These are unusual times. St. Peter’s usually plays before crowds of 1,000 at the Run Baby Run arena. But there were over 20,000 fans cheering them on in this NBA arena
“I feel like there’s no pressure, we’re just going out there like we would if nobody was in the stands,” Edert said. “Our game is our game, regardless of who’s watching. and that’s it.”
The loss left Purdue players in a daze
“I’m honestly still in shock,” Trevion Williams said. “It just doesn’t feel real,”
“Honestly, like, my mind is blank right now,” senior wing Sasha Stefanovic said.
“It eats at you, man,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “These guys won 29 games and then you feel awful.”
Holloway will savor this one, then start working on North Carolina, which got 29 second half points from Caleb Love during a 73-66 victory over UCLA in the other regional semi-final. He realizes he is representing the hopes of
Jersey City as the stakes get higher. “I had to turn my phone off. Everybody wanted tickets,” he said. “I can’t get tickets for everyone. I’ll tell you what, man, I can’t believe the support we’re having. This is unbelievable. Jersey City has
unbelievable for us. I want to give a shout out to our student-athletes and the whole student body. They’re taking buses down there. They’re doing videos, watch parties. It’s been tremendous.”
They all want to be part of what has become America’s team over the last two weeks.
These guys, man,” he said. “A bunch of kids that one really wanted and thought they couldn’t play. This is unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier for them.”
Holloway appears to be the front runner for the Seton Hall vacancy once this magic season is over.
