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NORFOLK — Kenny Blakeney couldn’t stop crying. It was 3:30 a.m. Saturday afternoon at Scope Arena, Howard had just ended a 31-year losing streak in NCAA tournaments with a stunning 65-64 win over Norfolk State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament finals, and the tears were flowing overall.
But Blakeney was a leader in water works.
Each new hug triggered another stream of tears. When freshman MEAC Tournament MVP Shy Odom wrapped him up and yelled, “Coach, I love you, I love you!” Blakeney couldn’t even reply. A moment later, as Howard President Wayne Al Frederick walked over, it took Blakeney a few seconds to get up. As he did so, he cried into Frederick’s shoulder and said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
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It was Frederick who told athletic director Kery Davis four years ago to hire Blakeney, even though Blakeney had never been a head coach. “As soon as I met him, I said, ‘Hire him,'” Frederick said. “I knew he was our type as soon as he walked in the door.”
Saturday was a long time coming for Blakeney and Howard. The Bison was 4-29 in his debut season and was only allowed to play five games in the Covid-plagued 2020-21 season. But Blakeney’s recruitment started a year ago and Howard went 16-13. That season brought 22 wins, a regular-season MEAC title, and now—finally—the tournament title and first trip to the NCAA tournament since Butch Beard was Howard’s coach in 1992.
“Wow,” Blakeney said quietly, standing in front of his team, the net around his neck and the MEAC trophy beside him. He stopped and started gagging again. “Just wow. I mean holy s—. Everything you went through, the 6am exercises, being kicked out of the locker room – all of that – was for this.”
This was an extraordinary basketball game. Norfolk State had won the last two MEAC titles and was the conference class along with North Carolina Central for most of coach Robert Jones’ 10 seasons at the school. Howard went into halftime with a 33-27 lead, but the Spartans scored the first five points of the second half, and neither team led by more than four points the rest of the way.
There have been six draws and eleven lead changes in the last 20 minutes. Two straight baskets were as close to a run as any came.
“It was everything we expected,” said Howard’s Jelani Williams. “This is how a championship game should be”
Williams and Odom were the last plays Blakeney added this season. Williams joined Howard after four years in Pennsylvania as a graduate student. Earlier this season, Williams said he decided to play at Howard because he wanted to be the leader of a team that had a chance to win a championship.
That dream came true on Saturday, although for a while it looked like bison would be in short supply. Two free throws by Norfolk State’s Joe Bryant Jr. by 23.7 seconds gave the Spartans a 64-60 lead. But Marcus Dockery emptied a three – Howard’s only three of the second half – with 13.2 seconds to go, and Blakeney called his final time-out.
The Bison came out on their “41” defense, meaning they attempted to deny every inbound pass. It worked. The Spartans had a miscommunication and the inbound pass eventually went wide and out.
The clock never moved. When Howard scored, it was clear where the ball was going: to Williams. He already had 18 points – the only Howard player in double figures – and he was the rock of bison all the way.
“I’m supposed to be the tough guy, especially in tight games,” he said. “I understand this role and I want this role.”
Williams caught the ball on top of the key and drove into the teeth of the Norfolk State Defense. As the Spartans collapsed on him, he twisted his body and pulled a foul. The Spartans had complained early and often about fouls, but this time there was no dispute.
Williams emptied the first shot to level the score at 64. Jones called a time-out so he could think about the second.
He has. “I was like, ‘This is why I came to Howard,'” said Williams, still clutching the ball he was taking the shots with. “I’ve waited my whole life for a moment like this. I never let go of this ball. I knew this was my last chance to go to the NCAAs and I would make it.”
He made the free throw for a 65-64 lead with 6.1 seconds remaining. NSU brought the ball into midfield and called its last timeout 4.3 seconds before the end. The inbounds came to Kris Bankston and he drove the baseline. But the Bison defense came his way, and his shot hit the bottom of the rim as time ran out.
Heartbreak for the Spartans. Euphoria for the bison. It took a few minutes for the Norfolk State players to find their legs to go to the locker room. The Howard celebration was already in full swing by this point. Former Howard players flooded the floor. Former coach AB Williamson, who guided Howard to his first NCAA tournament bid in 1981, stood and watched the nets fall.
“I remember Kenny at DeMatha when he played for Morgan [Wootten]’ he said with a smile. “Then he went to Duke and played for [Mike Krzyzewski]. I guess he learned a few lessons from those two.”
Even 30 minutes after the last buzzer, standing in front of his players with the net around his neck — “My new necklace,” he said — Blakeney was having trouble taking it all in.
“It’s surreal, isn’t it, boys?” he said. “It’s one thing to dream of doing something like that. Actually doing it is another matter. I mean it’s real. We really did it.”
It’s entirely possible that Howard will be sent to Dayton, Ohio, for a play-in game as the No. 16 with a 22-12 record. Blakeney didn’t care at all. “Wherever they tell us, we just get on the bus and go,” he said.
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Wherever the bison go, it won’t be by bus. If you’re going to the NCAA tournament, you’re traveling on a chartered plane. The last time Blakeney did that was in 1994 when he was a Duke Junior. He is now 51 and, like his school, has come a long way to get back to where he was on Saturday.
“I’m speechless,” Blakeney said to his players, who laughed because he’s almost never speechless. “What a run.”