Falcons Did Things Differently This Year to Produce an Unforgettable Run
Before this year, I had given St. Joseph’s top ranking in my pre-season polls. They always had great talent such as Steve Rennard (UPenn), Quenton DeCosey (Temple), Karl Anthony Towns (Kentucky, and now in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves), Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt, and now in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies), Marques Townes (FDU, and now at Loyola-Chicago), Bree Tyree (Mississippi), Tyus Battle (Syracuse), Alanzo Frink (now at Roselle Catholic), Khalif Battle (now at Trenton Catholic), and Branislav “Benny” Vujadinovic (Assumption College).
Since they had all of this talent, the Falcons were content, especially the past few years, to being the equivalent of a puncher like Mike Tyson, George Foreman, or Sonny Liston, and just tried to overwhelm you with that talent. They went away from being those gritty Joes teams of Turco’s early years that had leaders like Sean Baptiste (FDU) and Darrell Carroll (Catholic University), but also had role players like a Kyle Elwood, Paul Konopacki, Taurin Wheeler, and Kyan Hines that played with heart and determination. They went away from being a boxer.
Was it the lesson Mergin Sina and Gill St. Bernard’s taught the Falcons at the Playaz Jingle Bells Jubilee Championship a year ago? Or was it the lesson that legendary Paul Rodio and St. Augustine’s taught the Falcons in the Non-Public A South Championship? What ever it was, head coach Dave Turco and his staff reinvented themselves and the team, and the result this year has been pure magic. Without a single Division I prospect on the squad, with three freshmen including two in the starting five in the six or seven man rotation, this year’s Falcon team has surpassed win totals of the past two season’s when they had way more talent.
You will often hear the phrase that less is more. This year’s St. Joseph’s squad is the embodiment of that. Since the Falcons had less, they adapted. Instead of being Mike Tyson, George Foreman, and Sonny Liston, they became Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, or Lennox Lewis. These Falcons were tacticians. They were boxers. St. Joe’s didn’t try to overwhelm you, or beat you into submission. No, instead the Falcons went back to the basics, and just win games.
With a victory over Bishop Eustace tonight in the Non-Public A South Semifinals, St. Joseph’s would improve to 27-1. Beating Eustace will be no easy task. The South Jersey school from Pennsauken defeated CBA, a traditional power in this section, in the quarterfinals on Thursday. If the Falcons do win though, they would match the record of the 2003-04 South Plainfield Tigers team coached by Jeff Lubreski, and was assisted by “Big Mike” Allocco and current J.P. Stevens head coach Bobby Jones, and consisted of future D1 players Marquis Jones and Darren Smith.
Are there similarities between these two teams? Yes. Both teams were very good defensively, and knew how to protect the lead by taking care of the basketball and getting to the line to make free throws late in games. Those Lubreski teams of 2003, 2004, and 2005 had kids that could take care of the basketball, get to the line, and make free throws to put away games.
Are there differences? Yes. For starters, the 2003-04 SPHS Tigers went through the regular season, the GMCT, and the North Jersey Section 2 Group 3 semifinals undefeated (27-0). It was also a team laden with experience with juniors and seniors such as Corey Gilmore (TCNJ), Ian Robinson, Gary Houston, Shawn Brown, and Jonathan Buggey. What those kids did was extraordinary, especially in the GMCT that year. The immense pressure that they must have been under by trying to remain undefeated while also trying to capture the school’s first ever county title, and yet those kids managed to keep the perfect season going while winning the GMCT.
You could feel that tension especially in the 2004 GMCT Quarterfinals at South Brunswick High School against Piscataway, a team that SPHS had never beaten since the Chiefs joined the GMC in the 1988-89 season. Late in the game, P-Way, the ninth seed, coached by Tony DiGiovanni, who later went on to coach at New Brunswick, and consisted of players such as the school’s all time leading scorer, Rodney Freeney and Manny Perotte, had the lead late. Ian Robinson drew a foul in the final 10 seconds of regulation and made two free throws to force overtime, and then Gary Houston sank a huge three from the right wing in the extra session to help the Tigers finally vanquish the Chiefs.
The loss that St. Joseph’s had against Old Bridge on February 7th may have been a blessing in disguise. Even in that game, the Falcons showed tremendous heart and determination to maintain the perfect season by rallying from a 14 point deficit with six minutes to play to force overtime, and battled the Knights through another overtime before submitting, 62-59. However, for a Falcons team with three freshmen in its rotation, and four on its roster along with two sophomores, and three seniors that totaled 110 points the year before, going through the GMCT undefeated would have been a lot to ask for, especially with the way this season had gone in the GMC.
However, let’s not diminish what Dave Turco, his coaching staff, and these kids have done. Regardless of tonight’s outcome, the 2016-17 St. Joseph’s Falcons defied many odds to get what they’ve earned, and get this far. And again, they did it with much less in terms of talent than they have had the previous five or so years. They adapted. They did more with less, and became a boxer, not a puncher. The result has been a season for the ages.