City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

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GLENSIDE, PA — Mike Herrin had to wipe the slate clean. The Del Val University 6-foot-4 senior guard was kicking himself after his team broke the huddle, a minute after getting the ball knocked away from him to create what he was staring at: A 61-61 tie at Arcadia with 12 seconds left.

There was no way anyone else would take the final shot but him, Herrin determined Wednesday night in the waning seconds of a thrilling MAC Freedom Division season opener. With the ball and the game in his hands, Herrin delivered, spilling in a 10-foot jumper from the right elbow for a 63-61 Aggies’ victory with 1.8 seconds left.

The defending MAC Freedom champions, Del Val (7-5 overall) won for the third-straight time and the Aggies could have answered a few questions their coach, Muhamadou Kaba, may have had about them.

“League games are always tough and competitive, everyone knows each other’s personnel, everyone knows each other’s plays, and we knew this was going to have to be a rock fight,” Kaba said. “And this team has not gone through a rock fight yet where we’ve been able to overcome and win. We were glad to get one opening league play. Arcadia is a helluva team and we knew it is always going to be a fight. Our guys responded to that.”

But it did get scary.

With 1:29 to play, it appeared Del Val was in a comfortable position. The Aggies were up, 61-55, after six-straight points from Kamal Johnson (Audenried). They had been playing stifling defense, especially on Arcadia star Jamison Lynam, who entered the game averaging 17.4 points and was held by Del Val to a season-low five. But an Amyr Walker (West Catholic) layup shaved it down to four, and an ill-fated missed Del Val three-pointer was converted into a Corey Attivo layup cutting it to 61-59.

Though he did not have a great offensive game, it was Lynam that made the defensive play of the game for Arcadia in the last 30 seconds, coming from behind to knock the ball away from the unsuspecting Herrin, setting up a pair of made free throws from Nas Johnson (Father Judge) with 12 seconds left creating the hero scenario for Herrin.

The last time he hit a buzzer beater was his season opener his junior year—of high school—some five years ago.

Herrin, who finished with a game-high 22 points on uncanny eight of 12 shooting, with eight rebounds, had come into the game looking for personal payback. He had been out last season for the Aggies’ game at Arcadia, a game Del Val lost. He remembers sitting the bench in frustration, vowing he would make it up if given the chance to face the Knights (7-5) again.

The other interesting subplot was Del Val was projected by the league to finish fourth this season, with Arcadia tabbed to be No. 1 in the MAC Freedom. This was particularly biting, considering Del Val was projected to finish last in 2025 and wound up winning the league championship.

“That felt good tonight, there was no doubt I was going to take the last shot,” said Herrin, who underwent a rigorous offseason conditioning program that has added 12 pounds of muscle to his frame since last year. “I had just turned the ball over and I wanted to make up for it. In that situation, there was nothing to lose. I got to my spot and took my shot.”

Herrin is second on the team in scoring, averaging 16.4 points a game, behind team-leading Antonio Redding’s 19.4. But Herrin wanted to address his up-and-down down junior year. He worked on his shot, and went from 180 to 192 pounds. That has translated into becoming more assertive with the ball and able to play stronger through contact.

“I’ve expanded my game more since last year, finishing through contact, and when I had the ball for the last shot, I created enough separation,” Herrin said. “When I let it go, I knew it was good. It was big time that we won here. Although we won the league title, we’re still underrated. But we like it like that. They put three teams ahead of us, one of which was Arcadia, so we like being the underdogs. There was a little vengeance going on.”  

Arcadia, which was led by Johnson’s 20 points, went 19 of 28 from the free throw line, including going 15 of 22 in the second half.

It was a gnawing loss for Knights’ coach Adam Van Zelst, but he did see his team look finished numerous times and keep fighting back.

“I think we have a lot of battle-tested guys, and a lot of guys who have played in a lot of games,” he said. “They knew they had a chance if they won one possession at a time. We needed some breaks, and we got some breaks in the end, but credit to them, they made a big shot in the end. Free throws and turnovers we really struggled with.

“I don’t think we played our best basketball, but that was because of them. Del Val was physical and direct. They played together and were definitely connected. They were super physical with Jamison, and they collapsed four guys every time Jamison and Nassy drove to the basket. Our decision-making was not great, and we did not do a great job passing.

“In the end, with 1.8 seconds, we were hoping to get a shot off, and that wasn't the case.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.