JERSEY CITY, N.J. – If you ask the residents of Fairfield, Connecticut who is the most disliked person a member of the Saint Peter's men's basketball team may come up. For an April Fools Day joke on the website, we said that Weird Al Yankovic was going to sing a parody of the Ray Parker Jr., song Ghostbusters with the lyrics "when the game is close, who you gonna call?" For Seton Hall it might be an afterthought now, but for the Fairfield men's basketball team the one person that hopes doesn't get that call is junior Desi Washington. Washington stuck the dagger into the Stags now once, not twice, but three times this season by hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in waning seconds of either regulation or overtime to claim the Top-Moment in our 2013-14 Top Moments Countdown.
It's a Wednesday night in Fairfield on Jan. 8 and Saint Peter's is down by as many as 17-points in the second half. The Peacocks come back to take a 53-51 with 1:04 left in the game. Saint Peter's gets the ball back with 33 seconds left and a two-point lead, but Washington is called for traveling and also gets a technical foul on the play. Sean Grennan makes 1 of 2 at the line, but also scored in the paint to give the Stags a one-point lead. Justin Jenkins makes 1 of 2 at the line with seven seconds left to make it a two-point game. Saint Peter's gets the ball down the court and Washington spots up for a 3-pointer as time expires and hits nothing but net for a 56-55 win.
Washington makes his first appearance on ESPN in the Top-10 for his game-winning heroics that night.
Fast forward to nearly the end of the season and Fairfield comes to Jersey City on Feb. 25. The Stags have rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to lead 60-51 with 3:32 left in the game. The Peacocks score nine of the next 11 points to make it a two-point game with 32 seconds left. Just like the first meeting, Fairfield can put the game away at the free throw line, but misses both chances to give Saint Peter's and Washington one more shot. It may have been a different gym, but Washington knows his spot and lands near the same location of his shot against Seton Hall on Dec. 14 and his game-winner against the Stags in January to and as Yogi Berra would say it was déjà vu all over again after the junior nails the game-winning basket this time with 2.1 seconds left to help the Peacocks to a 63-62 win.
Maybe it was fate or destiny, but who is the Peacocks first-round matchup in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament? That's right the Stags of Fairfield, the same team that rallied to beat Saint Peter's in the MAAC Tournament the year before and the same team that Washington hit the game-winning shot against twice this season. Surely he couldn't do it for a third time.
The third meeting of the season lived up the hype of the first two meetings. The game went into overtime after the Stags missed a chance to win at the buzzer of regulation. Each team scores four points in the extra session and Maurice Barrow ties the game at 62 with an offensive board and put-back with seven seconds left. Washington gets the ball up the court and heads over toward the Saint Peter's bench with three Fairfield players on him. There is no way that he can do it for a third time, not right next to Peacocks bench, not with three guys on him, right? Well then you would be wrong because his launch did the same thing it did against the Pirates (our No. 5 Moment this season) and twice before against the Stags and hit nothing but net with 1.2 seconds left. Fairfield had one last chance, but their desperation heave came up short and Washington's heroics proved to be the difference again and lead the team into the MAAC Quaterfinals.
After hitting the shot in the MAAC Tournament, Washington's three game-winners against Fairfield was featured on ESPN over the next couple of days. Sports Center showed all three game-winners right before its nightly Top-10 on Mar. 6 and then the live edition of Sports Center produced a three-minute segment the next morning where the guard's heroics against the Stags were compared to Reggie Miller against the Knicks, Eli Manning against the Patriots and David Ortiz against the Yankees. The ESPN show Around The Horn had a short segment on Washington on Mar. 7 and College Game Day also touched on the subject on Mar. 8.
In addition, Yahoo Sports covered the shot and talked to Saint Peter's head coach John Dunne after the game. Washington was also mentioned in the next edition of Sports Illustrated as well.
The team finished hot, winning seven of its last 10 games to finish 14-17 overall and 9-11 in league play. Expectations may have been raised for the 2014-15 season with all but three players returning for the 2013-14 season. Marvin Dominique (Miramar, Fla./Miramar [Fordham]) paced the team with 16.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game to earn All-MAAC third-team honors. Washington, who also scored his 1,000th point on the year, ranked second with 13.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.
We hope that you have enjoyed a look back at an exciting 2013-14 athletic year. We are getting ready to begin the next chapter in the Saint Peter's athletic history with the start of the 2014-15 season. Teams will start to report this week and we will kick off the next year when women's soccer hosts Lafayette at Caven Point in Jersey City on Aug. 26. Match time is 7 p.m.
Be sure to talk about the countdown with your fellow flock on twitter by using the hashtag #peacock15 and make sure you check us on Facebook or Twitter. If you are not a fan or a follower, now is the time to start and get all the news on Saint Peter's Athletics from your favorite social media outlet.
Schedule Of Release For The 2013-14 Top-15 Moments Countdown
No. 15 Moment: Women's Volleyball Rallies From Match Point Down To Five-Set Win Against Niagara
No. 14 Moment: Baseball Escapes With 9-8 Win Against Seton Hall
No. 13 Moment: Power Supply: Olmedo Smacks Walk-Off Homer Against Canisius
No. 12 Moment: Flash Mobb: Men's Soccer Downs Bryant On Golden Goal
No. 11 Moment: Hopf And Kristoffersen Etch Names Into Baseball Record Book
No. 10 Moment: 20-20 Vision: Kaydine Gets Niagara All Bent Out Of The Shape
No. 9 Moment: Bill Stein Named Director of Athletics Emeritus
No. 8 Moment: Student-Athletes Excel In The Classroom
No. 7 Moment: Gomez Butterflies His Way To Most Outstanding Swimmer Of Meet Honor
No. 6 Moment: Samardzic Becomes First Peacock MAAC Women's Swimmer Of Meet
No. 5 Moment: Men's Basketball Takes Down Seton Hall On Washington Trey In Overtime
No. 4 Moment: Harris Doubles Up On MAAC Outstanding Performer Honors
No. 3 Moment: Men's Golf Captures First MAAC Championship Crown
No. 2 Moment: Harris Goes National Twice To Earn All-America Honors
No. 1 Moment: Washington Hits Game-Winning 3's And Gains National Exposure
