This Saint Peter's team is something special

This time tomorrow night Saint Peter's will be paying in their first national championship of any kind when they take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi in Texas for the CIT Basketball tournament title. The Peacocoks played a complete game last night in the semi-final dispatching Furman with ease. The Peacocks bolted to 17-1, and 34-8 leads before Furman got within 12 to begin the second half which only spurred Saint Peter's on their own 19-4 game clinching run. The Peacocks rained 3 balls on the helpless Paladins, something we hope they do again tomorrow night. The Peacocks never quit brining their calling card hard nosed defense which made the Furman comeback they much tougher. Quadir Welton had 11 points and 16 rebounds to control the inside and squeeze the life out of the Furman Five. Nnamdi Enechionyia scored a season-high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting while Chazz Patterson and Antwon Portley scored 13 points apiece. The 13 points were a season-high for Patterson, this year's MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.

This is a great local story isn't it? This is a confident team playing their best ball in three years. The thing is, so is Corpus Christi. The title game should be a good one as both teams come in hot. If we know one thing, Saint Peter's defense will battle all night long and the Peacocks can win low scoring as well as high scoring games. Johnny would take either so long as it's a win and a National Championship.

Saint Peter's just kicked the crap out of Furman

No other way to put it. The Peacocks were better in every aspect. Jumped out to a 17-1 lead and never looked back. A full report tomorrow on their 77-51 victory.

BIG win.

Get your butts over to the Yanitelli Center Wednesday night

Saint Peter's Basketball, The Pride of Jersey City®, plays at home in the semi-final of the national CIT tournament vs the Furman Paladins Wednesday night at 9PM. Let's turn out for Saint Peter's Jersey CIty, see if we can't get this tea, to bring us a national championship.

St. Peter's wins their first NCAA tourney game since 1980

No, it wasn't the big NCAA dance you're seeing on your teevee today or the NIT you'll see on ESPN on off nights at 2am. There's also a CIT, a third tourney for teams that just don't want the season to end. Tonight, the Pride of Jersey City® defeated Albany 59-55.

This is St. Peter's first NCAA post season win since a 1980 NIT win. Congratulations Peacocks!

Is St. Peter's College moving on up?

To the world of university stature? It's now possible since St. Peter's has applied to the state to become a university. “We have applied for university status and we are waiting with baited breath,” Eugene J. Cornacchia, President of St. Peter's said.

Were you, like many on staff here wondering about the difference between a college and university? Well here you go seekers of knowledge:

To be considered a university in New Jersey, an educational institution has to offer baccalaureate degrees in a broad range of academic disciplines, and advanced degrees in at least three academic or professional fields, according to the commission guidelines.

We think bestowing university status on St. Peter's College would definitely be a good thing and could raise awareness of the school above what it is now. A decision should be made in the next couple months.

Well Saint Peter's is one and done in the NCAA tournament

And perhaps the most disappointing part was that there was no hint of an upset, the Peacocks weren't able to hang around like say Princeton versus Kentucky or little Oakland University (in Rochester Michigan where Johnny was born) did against Texas. The bigger and better Boilers took it to Saint Peter's and that was that.

We're fairly certain that for the fans disappointment will give way to a sense of pride and accomplishment (After all Saint Peter's is the Pride of Jersey City®). This was a program just a couple years back winning 5 and then 6 games a year total. Now they're marching through the MAAC tournament and knocking off top teams. We think in the next couple years Saint Peter's will be one of those top teams year in and year out.

So, until next year when we're guessing attendance at the Yanitelli Center will be much higher all we can tell the team and the college is thank you for representing Jersey City so well.

Saint Peter's is ready for their shot in the NCAA tournament this evening

And already the Peacocks have caught themselves a break. Purdue's top perimeter defender Kelsey Barlow has been suspended for the tourney by Boilermakers had coach Matt Painter. Will this somehow tip the balance in Saint Peter's favor? No, it won't but if a team is going to spring the upset they need every little bit of help they can get. Who knows, foul trouble could put even more pressure on the Boilers. No pressure on the Peacocks no siree, just a chance to show the world how good they can be.

The 14 seed Peacocks tip off with the 3 seed Boilermakers at 7:40 pm in Chicago. The game will air on TNT.

The radio call when Saint Peter's won the MAAC tourney


The live reaction from the bench and all the fans -- SPC! SPC! SPC!

The Saint Peter's Peacocks are going to the NCAA Tournament!

Saint Peter's has just won the MAAC Tournament with a 62-57 upset victory over the Iona Gaels. Tell ya what, the old addage defense wins championships holds true once more. Saint Peter's was the top defensive team in the MAAC and Iona had the top offense. 57 points in a title game for the top scoring team? Pfffft, that's a Peacock lockdown job.

Jeron Belin led the way with 17, Nick Leon had 15 and Wesley Jenkins had 14. Jenkins was incredibly key shooting lights out 9-9 from the free throw line during white knuckle time. Steven Samuels and Ryan Bacon each had two big blocked shots.

Congratulations to The Pride of Jersey City®, The Saint Peter's Peacocks and head coach John Dunne. This will be the Peacocks third trip to the big dance having also gone in 1991 and 1995.

Saint Peter's CRUSHES top seeded Fairfield, will play for a shot at the NCAA Tournament!

This one goes in the record book. Saint Peter's (The Pride of Jersey City®) absolutely punched Fairfield in the mush from the beginning of the game and ran out to a 40-15 halftime lead. You read that right, 40-15 at the half. Fairfield, the team that came in first during the regular season, and playing on their home floor in front of their home fans, tried to mount some kind of comeback. We don't think it was so much a comeback attempt as it was an attempt to save face. The Peacocks won the game 62-48 and in doing so advance to the MAAC Championship game against either Iona or Rider who are playing now at press time. The Peacocks were led by Jeron Belin with 15, Wesley Jenkins with 14 and Nick Leon with 11. Leon was clutch from the free-throw line going 6-6.

We think Fairfield's fine season just ended in the NIT Tourney, the double edged sword of the smaller conferences. Even at 24-7 we're not sure the tournament committee sees Fairfield as a better tournament team than say a bubble team like perennial power Michigan State. We shall see.

The Peacocks will play the title game tomorrow at 7 pm on ESPN2.

Kudos and Huzzahs to Saint Peter's!