A stunner of an upset in Indianapolis Thursday night for Kentucky

Kudos to the tiny private college in Jersey City.

Let’s get right to the chase when Thursday night‘s final score of the first-round game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament was posted — Saint Peter’s University 85, Kentucky 79, in overtime, as the 15th-seeded Peacocks

stunned the 2nd-seeded Wildcats in the East Regional.

There you go, first read the initial good stuff because it just gets better as the small-school Division I program in Jersey City won its first NCAA tournament game in four tries. Wildcat supporters packed the arena in Indianapolis, Peacocks fans were much fewer and no doubt did not expect to celebrate when the final buzzer sounded.

But it was a done deal, one that sends the blue and white against 7th-seeded Murray State, which got past 10th-seeded San Francisco, 92-87, also in OT, and that’s Saturday in Indy. For the Peacocks, it was historic, the biggest victory for the program, for the school in any sport, and will be remembered occurring on St. Patrick’s Day, and for a school that was founded in 1872, this is also its 150th year of existence.

Now for myself, the first time I learned of Saint Peter’s, it was Saint Peter’s College. I was told it was just down the block from Kennedy Boulevard, a stone’s throw from New York City, about two miles from the Statue of Liberty.

It was my first year at the Jersey Journal daily newspaper in Jersey City, the Garden State’s second largest city, didn’t drive yet, and took two trains back-and-forth from where I lived in the NYC borough of Brooklyn. I lasted there for a dozen years and of course became well-tuned into Peacock Nation. The school later became known as a university, a quality academic private Catholic Jesuit Institution, not much for athletics, but usually had stellar seasons under long-time head basketball coach Don Kennedy.

“Run Baby Run,” was what its fans adopted when the 1967-68 squad made the scene. It was the way it played, running past the opponents on swift fast breaks, stealing the ball with its quickness on defense, and made it into the oldest college tournament, the NIT played at the mecca supreme Madison Square Garden several times. Its fans flocked to the Garden.

One night in the 1968 campaign, I was in the office when Fred Cranwell, the school’s sports information director,

called from MSG at halftime and gave me the score of the contest versus huge favorite Duke. “Saint Peter’s is up by 20, 42-22, talk to later,” he said. And it wound up as a impressive triumph for the guys from Jersey City, not a tall team, but a smart team that truly believed in teamwork and the wisdom of Coach Kennedy.

There were other surprises along the way that season, but nothing that beats this one.

Said long-time head coach John Calipari of Kentucky: “I always give credit where it is due, and this was quite a game played by Saint Peter’s. They just hung with us from the start and was the better team in overtime. I wish them well from here on in.”

The Peacocks are now 20-11 and the champions of the Metro Atlantic Association Conference. They play their home games on campus at the Yanitellii Arena, and all of the school is settled there on 30 acres.

They began against the Wildcats with plenty of confidence. They led early on and tied it at halftime. And if the Kentucky folks couldn’t believe what was occurring, it just went on as the underdogs controlled things, set up their tight defense, looked for the best shots, and even brought down more rebounds then the taller, more experienced Wildcats.

Daryl Banks III, a 6-foot-3 junior guard-forward from Los Angeles who played high school ball at the Patrick School, led the Saint Peter’s scoring with 27 points and converted a pair of free throws with 1:45 left in overtime for the lead for good. It came after he tossed in a short jumper to tie the score.

“It was an amazing finish,” he said. “You grew up watching March Madness, the tournament, so to let that sink in, knowing the game was over, felt really good.”

Then there was 6-2 junior guard Doug Edert, from Nutley, N.J. and who played at Bergen Catholic. He came away with 20 points, was good for a trio of 3, and was 7-for-7 from the foul line. There was also balance in the lineup, with 6-foot junior guard Matthew Lee from Puerto Rico, 6-7 junior forward Husban Drame, his 6-7 junior twin forward Fousseyni Drame, 5-11 freshman guard Jaylen Murray, 6-8 freshman forward Clarance Rupert. and the seniors, 6-7 forward KC Ndfeo and 6-4 wing Isaiah Dasher.

Lee added 16 points, four assists and four steals, Ndfeo turned in eight rebounds to go with the same number of points, Husban Drame took down seven boards and blocked four shots, and Dasher contributed three 3s and five assists.

With all these probable players returning, the Peacocks should again have a splendid season.

“At the end of the day,” said Saint Peter’s sixth-year head coach Shabeen Holloway who played for Seton Hall, “every team that made it to the NCAA Tournament deserves to be here. Every team that made it here believes they can advance. It’s about this night.”

Not bad for a school with an enrollment of about 3,500, which is half as many as NCAA Tournament appearances (four) as Kentucky has national titles (eight). The Wildcats had more than 22,000 undergraduates on its 900-acre campus as of 2020. Plus Calipari is the second-highest paid coach in college hoops. For the Peacocks’ herculean effort, they became the 10th No. 15 team to win a first-round game and it is recorded as the fourth biggest upset in tournament history alongside three 16th seeds.

In its other three appearances in the NCAA tournament first round, in 2011, Saint Peter’s was the 14th seed and lost to 3rd-seeded Purdue, in 1999 was 12th-seed and lost to 5th-seed Texas, and in 1995, was a 15th-seed and lost to No. 2 Massachusetts. Just to let you know, the women’s athletic teams are known as the Peahens.