MCGILL: 50 years ago, D'Antoni experienced similar win streak
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Fifty years later, the memory of a three-game stretch in January is a little fuzzy for Dan D'Antoni.
"I remember very little," he said.
During a 10-day stretch that started on Jan. 21, 1969, senior guard D'Antoni and the Marshall men's basketball team won three consecutive games: 78-76 against Loyola; 100-98 against Bowling Green; and 81-79 against Eastern Kentucky. That is the last time the Thundering Herd won three in a row by 3 points or fewer. That is, until this year's D'Antoni-coached Marshall team reached the New Year.
During a 10-day stretch that started on Jan. 3, the Herd hoops team won three consecutive games: 70-67 at Old Dominion; 85-84 at Charlotte; and 70-69 against Western Kentucky this past Saturday in a rematch of the C-USA tournament championship game last March.
Like D'Antoni's team did 50 years ago this month, this year's Herd made everyone sweat in the middle of winter.
"It shows that this team is competitive," D'Antoni said. "They play all the way through. There's no quit."
D'Antoni's senior year in 1969 was much of the same. Although Ellis Johnson's team finished 9-15 overall and 3-9 in MAC play, the Herd made a habit of winning close games. Marshall twice beat Morehead State by 3 points in December, then beat Yale by 5. There was the three-game stretch in January, and then a 2-point win against Toledo in D'Antoni's final home game on Feb. 19.
But it is the team's January run that has historic implications now.
In 1969, Marshall senior Jim Davidson, who had lost his starting job after 64 consecutive starts, came off the bench to score the game-tying and game-winning baskets against Loyola. Trailing 76-70, D'Antoni sparked the 8-0 run with a field goal, setting the stage for Davidson's heroics.
Four days later, D'Antoni scored a career-high 34 points in a four-overtime win against Bowling Green. Davidson again hit the game-winner, this time with four seconds left of the fourth overtime. He also hit game-tying shots in two of the other overtime periods. Bowling Green led 98-96 in the final OT, but D'Antoni tied it at 98-98 with 1:04 left to set the stage for Davidson.
In the finale of the three-game streak, Marshall rallied from 16 points to beat Eastern Kentucky. The Charleston Daily Mail wrote that "D'Antoni put on a ball-handling act and finally drew an intentional foul with three seconds to go" of the victory. The Herd had a 1-point lead at the time of the foul, but D'Antoni scored the final point in another narrow win.
D'Antoni had to see the similarities play out 50 years later with the Herd.
Marshall entered C-USA play on a two-game losing streak. The team, after a 4-0 start, had lost six of nine games. The host Monarchs led by as many as 7 points with 10:53 left of the first half, and took the lead with 3:29 left of the second half.
Then, in the waning moments of regulation, senior guard Jon Elmore made a cross-court pass across his body to sophomore guard Jarrod West, who sank the game-winning 3-pointer for the win.
Two days later at Charlotte, the Herd trailed in the final minute but swatted away the 49ers' final attempt to preserve the victory.
On Saturday, with preseason C-USA favorite WKU in town, Marshall trailed by as many as 15 points - remember, the Herd trailed by 16 in the third game of a three-game streak 50 years ago - in the first half and the visiting Hilltoppers led as late as 22 seconds left of regulation. After leading for more than 33 minutes, sophomore forward Jannson Williams hit a straight-away 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to give the Herd the lead for good. On the other end, D'Antoni's team thwarted WKU's last-second chances.
"We have a team that can make big plays when it comes time to make them," D'Antoni said. "Defensively, we got stops."
D'Antoni played the hero against Toledo, scoring the game-winning points with two seconds left. The Herd was down 81-77 with three minutes to go, but Marshall scored 6 unanswered points to get the win. D'Antoni scored 33, the final 2 of which came after Johnson called a timeout with 12 seconds left and let D'Antoni try to find a shot against Toledo's zone, and D'Antoni pulled up from 20 feet for the winner. Suddenly, the memory came roaring back.
"You don't get many game-winners," D'Antoni said. "You remember those."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for
