City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
--

It was the worst-case scenario for R.C. Kehoe and Holy Family.

Even though the Tigers were granted the No. 1 seed in the East regional of the Division II men’s basketball tournament, meaning they got to host eight teams for the first three rounds, Kehoe couldn’t celebrate that his team had become the first-ever out of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) to host a region usually nominated by teams out of the Northeast-10 (NE-10).

That was because as a “reward” for earning that top seed, Holy Family was matched up against eight-seed Southern New Hampshire University, which had just beaten three-seed Southern Connecticut State, two-seed St. Anselm’s and five-seed Bentley--all on the road--to win the NE-10 championship.

On top of that, the Penmen had already topped the Tigers by five back in November.

“There’s never been an NCAA tournament (hosted) outside their league, and the champion is the 8-seed,” Kehoe said. “I knew it when it came up...the minute that Southern New Hampshire popped up on the 8-line, all the excitement from seeing us on the top line exited my body as fast you could possibly exit my body.”

His fears were realized on Saturday evening, when Holy Family’s season came to an end in an 88-80 loss.

Southern New Hampshire carved up a Tigers defense that had only allowed 66.1 ppg, riding the back of Rodney Sanders (30 points) to jump out to a 44-24 halftime advantage. The Penmen held a double-digit lead almost the entire contest; it was a 21-point game with 5:25 left before a final Holy Family push made the final score respectable.

Afterwards, Kehoe sat at the press conference table, going through a wide variety of emotions.

There was certainly frustration, mostly centered around that choice of first-round opponent: “They’re the eight-seed, that’s the goliath of our region,” he said. “Riddle me that one, Batman.”

But mostly it was a mix of sadness and appreciation for a nine-man senior class that increased its win total in each of its four (or, in some cases, five) seasons on campus, going from a 12-14 program in 2011-12 to one that won 26 games this season, achieving a national ranking in the NABC Division II poll this year and of course getting to host the Division II tournament.

He was thinking about Reggie Charles, a Father Judge grad and CACC First-Team selection whose foul difficulties limited him to 18 minutes in his final game. About Turhan Griffin (who Keho called “the finest human being I’ve ever coached), a Franklin Life Center alum who went 5-for-5 from 3-point range in his final game. And the rest of his senior class: Marvin Crawford, Derrick Stewart, Eric Fleming, Xavier Williams, Isaiah Gans, Hunter Wysocki and James McDonnell.

They’ve all taken different paths to get there. Fleming is the only five-year member of the program, one of three redshirt seniors on the roster; both Charles (Shippensburg) and Williams (CCP) transferred in. Griffin, Gans and Wysocki are four-year players, Stewart (Rider) and Crawford (Raritan Valley) came in one and two years into their careers, respectively,  and McDonnell is a fifth-year transfer from UMass-Lowell.

“Because of the way they act off the floor, the program is at an all-time high,” Kehoe said. “Not because of 26 wins, not because of a No. 1 seed in the tournament--their character and makeup has put us in a position where Holy Family is a good school to go to, it’s a good basketball program, and it’s a program where you can flourish.

“We don’t have a ton of guys that were highly-recruited, but what they did is they came here, they believed in what we told them, they worked their tails off, day in and day out, for four years. And the culmination of it was a CACC championship and the opportunity for our athletic department to put on a first-class tournament in the NCAA.”

Along with Charles and Griffin, four other seniors hail from Philadelphia: Stewart (Neumann-Goretti), Fleming (Archbishop Ryan), Williams (Saul) and Gans (Redemption Christian).

Establishing roots in the city where he grew up--Kehoe, a Roman Catholic grad, played at Clarion and East Stroudsburg and is the nephew of St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli--has been a vital part of his success.

“You’re in the city of Philadelphia, it’s the mecca of college basketball,” Kehoe said. “To be able to play at a program that’s going to be able to compete nationally and be at home, it’s a big deal. We had seven Philadelphia kids on the roster, and that’s the reason why we’ve climbed the mountain we’ve climbed over the last four years.”

Now starts a major rebuilding process for Kehoe and his staff, who need to replace a group that played all but 48 minutes of the entire season--only junior Shane Neher (26 minutes, five points) and freshman Maurice Smith (22 minutes, six points) saw any time this year.

The road back will be long, but it’s a road they’ve taken before.

“The one thing about me is the glass is always half-full, I always think,” Kehoe said, pausing for a moment to gather himself. “When we took over this program five years ago, it was floating in the Atlantic somewhere, it was missing. And piece by piece, day by day, they helped build the foundation, and each year they took another step.

“Five years ago, if I’d have told you that Holy Family was going to host the NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball, you would have said ‘yeah, he is certifiably crazy.’”

Crazy, he might be. But it’s tough to doubt that Kehoe and the Tigers will be dancing again before long.