Dec. 4, 1954, Memorial Gym...Mount St. Mary's
99, St. Francis (N.Y.) 84: This was Jim Phelan's first games as
head coach at the Mount and the game where the tradition of wearing
bowties started.
"They were a very good team with a 6-8 center and two good guards.
They advanced to the NIT that season. They came in for the opening
game and we were up by 28 with 10 minutes to play. I cleared the
bench, and we ended up winning by 15. After the game, St. Francis
believed that they were robbed."
Dec. 12, 1954, Memorial Gym...Mount St. Mary's
86, St. Francis (Pa.) 79: St. Francis came to Memorial Gym with
All-American Maurice Stokes and tough squad. This game proved early
on in coach Phelan's career that the Mount would be a tough team to
beat.
"Maurice Stokes led that team and they came in with a talented
team. They had played Villanova the night before in double overtime
in Philadelphia and we played them at 2:00 p.m. the next day. It
was an afternoon game, and we made sure that they were shooting
into the sun in the second half. Stokes didn't have a great game,
and we earned the win."
Mar. 5, 1955, Mason-Dixon Conference Championship
Game...Mount St. Mary's 99, Loyola 93 (OT)...The Mount
finished coach Phelan's first season on a 10-game winning streak
and won the Mason-Dixon Conference with a thrilling overtime win at
Loyola. The Mount was 22-3 that season, losing the three games by a
combined 10 points.
"It was the championship in Mason-Dixon Conference that
year...When I arrived here, Loyola held an advantage in the series
with us, and our players were kind of afraid when playing them. It
was a great game, and we ended winning 99-93 in overtime."
Mar. 1, 1957, at the Palestra...Mount St.
Mary's 86, Villanova 70: This was coach Phelan's first game at the
Palestra as a coach in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pa. The game
was the last one of the regular season, was part of an amazing
21-game winning streak that was ended in the semifinals of the NCAA
College Division Championships by Kentucky Wesleyan, 99-81.
"It was the first game in the Palestra for me as a coach. Jack
Sullivan had 33 points and we won 86-70. It was memorable because
we had the phone number of the scorers table and my wife, Dottie,
was calling to get updates because the game wasn't on televison or
radio. On her last call, Bob Vetrone told her to hang up and not
worry, because the Mount was up 15 with a minute to play."
Dec. 1, 1961, at Providence...Providence 65,
Mount St. Mary's 59: The Providence game was the season-opener for
the Mount in their championship season of 1962. Despite losing, the
Mount learned that the team could compete with anyone in the
country that night. The 1961-62 team closed out the season with 10
straight wins to earn the national championship.
"Providence had a couple of very good players, including John
Thompson, and had won the NIT the year before. Dave Maloney had a
great game and Eddie Pfeiffer took their All-American out of the
game. We held a four or five point lead late in the game, and a few
calls didn't go our way and we ended up losing. However, our team
knew we could play with anyone after that."
Mar. 17, 1962, Evansville, Ind...National Championship
Game...Mount St. Mary's 58, Sacramento State 57 (OT): The
Mount was 14-6 midway through the season before turning things
around and winning its final 10 games en route to the NCAA College
Division National Championship. Included in that 10-game win streak
were a three-overtime win versus American to close the regular
season and a four-overtime win versus Albright in the East
Regionals.
"We were in a mid-season slump. We had just lost at
Randolph-Macon and on the way back the team had a meeting at the
back of the bus. That loss had made us 14-6. When we got back, the
team told me "Coach, we're not going to lose again." I said, great,
10 consecutive wins and we are national champions. Lo and behold,
10 wins later, there we were. Some of those wins were not easy. We
had a four overtime game versus Albright. We beat Wittenburg in the
quarterfinals. They had knocked us out the year before and were the
defending national champions."
Dec. 6, 1995, Philadelphia, Pa...Mount St.
Mary's 81, LaSalle 66: This was a big game for coach Phelan because
it came on the same floor where he was a player at LaSalle...That
season, the Mount went 21-8 and earned a bid to the National
Invitation Tournament.
"We had opened the season with a loss at Wake Forest and played
two nights later at Liberty, and they beat us bad. On the bus ride
back, the coaches got together and decided to start Tony Hayden, a
former walk-on, versus LaSalle. He hits his first shot, a
three-pointer, and we took the lead and never looked back. It was a
big win for me because it came on the same floor where I had
played."
Dec. 18, 1995, Atlanta, Ga...Mount St. Mary's
71, Georgia Tech 69: In one of the most stunning upsets in college
basketball that season, the Mount went to Georgia Tech and downed
the eventual ACC regular season and tournament champion. The Mount
went on to win the NEC regular season title with a 16-2 league
mark.
"We played at their place and they were a good team. They went
on to win the ACC regular season and tournament championships that
season. I was out watching warm-ups and they were horsing around,
and no one seemed real serious about the game. I went to the locker
room and told our players, "these guys aren't taking us seriously.
Go out, play hard, and you don't know what might happen." We led
that game almost start to finish. Silas Cheung was making shots and
Chris McGuthrie was having one of those incredible nights. Georgia
Tech had rallied to take a lead, but we came back. With the score
tied, we got an inbounds play underneath the basket. They were
climbing all over McGuthrie, and Jeff Balistrere made a cut to the
basket and came open for the layup. The shot went in, the buzzer
sounded, and we snuck out with a great win."
Mar. 1, 1999, Staten Island, N.Y., NEC Championship
Game...Mount St. Mary's 72, Central Connecticut 56: This
was coach Phelan's 800th career win. He became just the fourth NCAA
coach ever to reach the 800-win plateau. In addition, the win
propelled the Mount into the NCAA Tournament for the second
time.
"We had lost our three games, all at home, and finished in sixth
place in the conference. We played Robert Morris in the first game
and beat them handily, and pulled out a two-point win versus a good
St. Francis NY team. The final game was against CCSU, a team that
had just beaten us at home. It was a nip-and-tuck game, but we
broke it open in the last five minutes and came away with the
win."
Mar. 12, 1999, Bradley Center, Milwaukee,
Wis....Michigan State 76, Mount St. Mary's 53: The Mount
played Michigan State tough in this game, leading 14-13 with 13
minutes left in the first half. The Spartans, however, closed the
first half with an 11-3 run to take control.
"We were quite competitive in that game. We had a great game plan
for Mateen Cleaves and forced him into some errors that he normally
wouldn't make. It was a close game, but we missed two lay-ups late
in the half and their center made two three-pointers to make it a
14-point game at the half."
Mar. 16, 1995, The Pyramid, Memphis,
Tenn....Kentucky 113, Mount St. Mary's 67: This was the
first-ever appearance by the Mount in the NCAA Division I
Tournament. The Mount drew a Kentucky team who's roster included
Walter McCarty, Tony Delk, Antoine Walker and Scott Padgett.
"One thing I remember was having a 5-2 lead early in the game. A
number of people sent me photographs of the scoreboard with us
leading. After that, they overwhelmed us. There were eight NBA
players on that Kentucky team."
