PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Doug Edert hopped onto the press table and punched the air with his fist to an insane section of St. Peter’s fans – aren’t they all? – as his teammates slapped their chests and showed eight fingers as the chaos turned into a perfect peacock party.
Edert’s giant leap onto the roaring crowd was perhaps his only mistake that evening.
“You jumped on a table?” trainer Shaheen Holloway asked later, then paused for comedic effect.
come on trainer Let the Peacocks strut their stuff.
The excitement isn’t over yet and the small commuter college in Jersey City, NJ is still beating all March expectations. Next stop: Elite Eight, a first-time goal for a #15 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“We are making history,” said Edert. “We look forward to making more history.”
Daryl Banks III scored the tie and go-ahead baskets that put Saint Peter’s on the verge of the Final Four, and the suddenly popular Peacocks blossomed from home field advantage to beat third-seeded Purdue 67-64 on Friday night.
The Peacocks (22-11) have added the Boilermakers to their line of upsets, meeting North Carolina in Sunday’s East Region Finals.
Saint Peter’s had the fans at the packed Wells Fargo Center on their side from the opening peak and the arena erupted when Banks leveled the game with a 57 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 those wins by now, having beaten No. 2 Kentucky and seventh-ranked Murray State — and held off a Purdue team that was valiantly trying to shut them down on the inside harass.
“Now what are they going to say?” Holloway was saying of his team’s doubters, a group whose numbers are dwindling.
The Boilermakers (29-8), 12 1/2 point favorites according to FanDuel Sportsbook, never led by more than six.
Almost 30 years ago to the day, when Duke Kentucky’s Christian Laettner stunned with an overtime buzzer beater to win a regional final on the since-devastated Spectrum, Purdue and Saint Peter’s whipped up their own Philly classic.
Saint Peter’s fans made the 93-mile ride south to fill the arena and give the Peacocks a bigger advantage than they normally have in their band box known as Run Baby Run Arena. Consider that only 434 fans were listed as the total attendance for St Peter’s opener against LIU this season.
Turns out, more than that led to the team earning a Sweet 16 send-off from campus this week.
“Everyone wanted tickets. I can’t get tickets for everyone,” Holloway said. “Tell you what, man, I can’t believe the support we have. That’s incredible. Jersey City has been incredible for us.”
More basketball fans—yes, even those whose staples the Peacocks helped bust—suddenly fired at Saint Peter’s, an unremarkable campus across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan.
Jaden Ivey buried an NBA distance 3 by 8 seconds that Purdue drew within 65-64 and silenced the crowd for a moment.
No worries. Edert, whose thin mustache and goofy personality landed him a fast-food chicken endorsement deal, sunk two free throws to seal the win.
Edert then led the madness onto the court and brought it to the table. He greeted the fans in the first few rows while the rest of the Peacocks bullied and hugged one another before gathering at the basket to celebrate – once again – the biggest win in program history.
“Yeah. I found a little opening and started moving things around,” Edert said of his table jump. “I don’t know, I was so excited.”
The Peacocks dropped and made snowmen on the court and soon there was a huge celebration of fans wailing around the hall and “SPU! SP!” The students and fans of St. Peter’s celebrated as if they had won a championship. Saint Peter’s has never won an NCAA tournament game and now they’ll just dance on at least one more game.
The school is tiny. The players are small. That makes no sense. But that’s what March is all about, right?
The Peacocks became the third No. 15 to ever reach the Sweet 16. Florida Gulf Coast in 2013 and Oral Roberts last year both failed to make the regional finals. Only two 12’s made it to a regional final.
Meanwhile, a Final Four spot remains elusive for Boilermakers coach Matt Painter and his enduring Big Ten contender.
“I wish I could have trained better, I wish we could have played a little bit better,” Painter said. “But that’s part of the competition.”
Banks led the Peacocks with 14 points, Clarence Rupert had 11 and Edert had 10. Trevion Williams had 16 points and eight rebounds for Purdue.
The Boilermakers missed 16 of 21 3-pointers and made 15 turnovers. Ivey was only 4 out of 12 for nine points.
“To be honest, I’m still in shock,” Williams said.
Before the game, the Saint Peter’s players lay on their backs on half court while performing their stretching exercises. Most watched the big screen, which replayed highlights of last weekend’s victories that brought the team to Philadelphia.
Meanwhile, the Peacocks’ run is engraved as the history of the tournament. The win over Kentucky and coach John Calipari was shocking enough. Eight days later they are still in the clamp.
The Peacocks lived by Holloway’s mantra: “I’ve got boys from New Jersey and New York City. Do you think we’re afraid of anything?”
They certainly weren’t afraid of the Boilermakers.
Purdue capitalized on his massive size advantage, throwing the ball inside at 7-foot-4 Zach Edey for easy dunks and Sasha Stefanovic hit three 3s to equal nine turnovers.
When Holloway discussed his players as New York and New Jersey, he should have thrown Philly into the mix. Rupert grew up in Philly and heard the biggest ovation of any Peacock during the cast introduction. He scored all of his points in the first half and kept the Peacocks within four at the break.
“I have the feeling that there is no pressure,” said Edert.
Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey traveled from Connecticut after her team practiced Friday to watch her son Jaden play in his first Sweet 16. After the Irish practiced, a car was waiting for them to make the 2 1/2 hour drive. Notre Dame meets North Carolina State in the women’s Sweet 16 on Saturday morning.
The 8th-seeded Tar Heels beat 4th-seeded UCLA 73-66 and will look to end the Peacocks’ unforgettable march.
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