The Holy War

Tonight I went to the Villanova - St. Joe's game with my Dad. Villanova had lost on Tuesday to Texas in Madison Square Garden. Now it was back to the Pavillon for a Big Five game with St. Joe's. In case you didn't know (who doesn't?) Villanova was founded by Augustinian priests and St. Joe's by the Jesuits - hence the "Holy War".

It had been raining since Tuesday and now it was getting cold to boot. We arrived about 7:30 and already the place was busy and loud. The Villanova student section was full (the band wore electric blue santa hats!) and about 100 or so St. Joe's students were at the opposite basket. There were a scattering of St. Joe's fans throughout the stands. Since the Pavillon is sold out for like forever I wondered how they managed that - the student section that is... somebody had to give up their seats for that. The other fans I'm guessing bought them on some internet site like StubHub or something. Anyway I was glad for the St Joe's fans because a Big Five game is just as much about the cheering as it is about the game. And although I am part of the group who wishes they would play all Big Five games at the Palestra I was just glad to be at this one.

The game was typical city series street basketball. Villanova's offense however wasn't there enough and if it weren't for our defense and Dante Cunningham .... well let's not go there. After a lead early on 13-11, Villanova trailed St. Joe's until a little over two minutes left in the game. We were down by 9 at the half.

At the half, the Villanova Dance Team came out for a routine. Dad says "Wouldn't you like to be that limber again?" I thought for a second..... seeing as how I'm going to be 49.... I turned to him and said, "How many of them ran a marathon 3 weeks ago!".... LOL

The second half was as feisty as the first. We were on our feet for a lot of it. Nova held St. Joe's to 21 points in the second half and won by 3 when their top scorer for the night (who's name went out of my head now) missed a free throw and Scotty Reynolds drew a foul driving to the basket. Scotty made both baskets and we went up by two. Dante Cunningham stole the inbounds pass and was fouled made the free throw to put us up by three. We won 59-56. The place went wild!

Did you know that the Hawk, a scholarship member of the team, must flap for the entire game. But he only flaps one wing during the National Anthem?