Greater Long Island coverage is funded in part by Toresco & Simonelli, a boutique injury and family law firm in West Islip. They fight for their clients. Click here to learn more and to get in touch.
The slipper still fits!
Saint Peter’s and its band of Long Islanders are still dancing, having shocked Purdue tonight, 67-64, in a Sweet 16 round March Madness matchup in Philadelphia. Down the stretch, the Peacocks hung on, playing without their best defensive player, Elmont’s KC Ndefo, who fouled out with just five minutes remaining.
All night, Ndefo and his partners in crime from Long Island in the front court, Fousseyni and Hassan Drame, graduates of Our Savior New American School in Centereach, battled Purdue’s massive big men. First, the 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, and then Trevion Williams, who is 6-foot-10.
On National Peacock Day, the Saint Peter’s Peacocks earned the Jersey City Jesuit school its first trip to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament’s Elite Eight round. Saint Peter’s is the first 15th-seeded team to reach the quarterfinals.
Surrounded by his exuberant players on the court after the game, Saint Peter’s Coach Shaheen Holloway of Queens summed up his feeling for a national television audience.
“What they gonna say now?” he said, regarding those who doubted his team. “I got a bunch of guys who just play basketball and have fun!”
Daryl Banks III scored the tying and go-ahead baskets that pushed Saint Peter’s to the brink of the Final Four, the tiny Peacocks thriving off a home-court edge.
The Peacocks (22-11) will face either UCLA or North Carolina in the East Region final on Sunday.
Saint Peter’s had the fans inside the packed Wells Fargo Center on its side from the opening tip and the arena erupted when Banks tied the game 57-all on a turnaround jumper. He hit a driving layup with 2:17 left that made it 59-57.
The Peacocks kept their composure — hey, they’re used to these wins by now after knocking off No. 2 seed Kentucky and Murray State — and held off a Purdue (29-8) team that gamely tried to bully them inside.
Saint Peter’s fans made the 93-mile ride south to help pack the arena and give the Peacocks more of an edge than they usually have at their bandbox known as Run Baby Run Arena. Consider, just 434 fans were listed as the total attendance for Saint Peter’s home opener this season against LIU.
More fans than that turned out to give the team a Sweet 16 sendoff from campus this week.
Purdue’s Jaden Ivey buried an NBA-distance 3 with 8 seconds left that pulled Purdue within 65-64 and momentarily shushed the crowd.
No worries. Doug Edert, whose wispy mustache and goofy persona earned him a fast-food chicken endorsement deal, sank two free throws to seal the win.
The Peacocks hopped the press table and saluted fans in the first few rows. They mobbed each other and hugged and starting waving down fans and friends before they gathered at the basket to celebrate — one more time — the biggest win in program history.
Banks led the Peacocks with 14 points, Clarence Rupert scored 11 and Edert had 10.
The Peacocks will play North Carolina in an Elite Eight match-up on Sunday.
With Associated Press reporting.
Feature image: Saint Peter’s Doug Edert celebrates after Saint Peter’s won a college basketball game against Purdue in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament, Friday, March 25, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
