“FATHER AND SON” and “THE COMEBACK”

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934. SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN VS PRINCETON TIGERS
NCAA LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

MAY 28, 2001

RUTGERS STADIUM

QUALITY OF PLAY—8.80

DRAMA—9.05

STAR POWER—5.54

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.35

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.57

LOCAL IMPACT—6.10

TOTAL: 42.41

“FATHER AND SON”

Between them, Princeton and Syracuse had won eleven of the previous thirteen NCAA lacrosse titles when they met for the second straight year in the finals on May 28, 2001. The two blue bloods had tangled in College Park, Maryland, for the 2000 crown, won by the Orange 13-7, and earlier in the 2001 season, also won by SU easily. Helping the hype for the final in 2001 was the stylistic contrast. The Tigers, true to their Ivy League nature, were a finesse team, while Syracuse powered to the net and attacked with an ultra-aggressive style. Tigers goalie Trevor Tierney was the equalizer, an All-American who was the son of legendary Princeton coach Bill Tierney.

Syracuse whipped Notre Dame in the semis, while Princeton had to hang for dear life to hold off Towson, 12-11. 21,268 packed Rutgers Stadium on an overcast Memorial Day to see if Princeton could exact revenge. 

The ‘Cuse was the top seed and number one team in the country, but it was Princeton who started loose and easy, pouring in three goals and shutting out SU in the first quarter, the first time all season that had been done. Tierney made several outstanding saves to blank a visibly frustrated group of Syracuse attackmen. The Orange bounced back a bit in the second but still trailed 5-3 at the half, and 8-4 in the fourth quarter, again a season low for goals from the potent SU attack.

But then the Orange awoke, scoring four straight goals to tie the game. From there, it was high drama. Princeton All-American T.J. Prager slapped in an over-the-shoulder shot to regain the lead, which held until the dying seconds. Syracuse freshman Mikey Powell, already one of the best players in the country, sent the partisan Orange crowd into a frenzy by scoring with 16 seconds to play, tying the game and forcing overtime. 

“We never lost our confidence,” Prager said. “We were worried that they had the momentum, but we knew we had the best defense in the country and the best goalie."

As it happened, Tierney wasn’t the deciding factor in the four-minute overtime period, as Syracuse never got a shot off. Princeton gained the Orange zone, and the ball went to Ryan Boyle behind the net. He zipped a pass to Prager, the pride of Garden City, Long Island, who was alone in a defensive breakdown just five yards in front of SU goalie Rob Mulligan. Prager whipped a low shot across and past the flailing Orange goalie. Ballgame.

Prager scored the last four Princeton goals and was the obvious choice for Most Outstanding Player. It was Tierney’s sixth title, the fourth of which was won in overtime. “If I can create master (overtime) plans,” he said, “I should be doing something more important than coaching lacrosse.”

AFTERMATH

The two dominant teams in college lacrosse went on to meet for a third straight time in the 2002 final, won by Syracuse (see #969 on the list). 

WHAT THEY SAID

“You make one mistake in practice and Coach is all over you. We’re in pressure situations every day from February on.”

—Trevor Tierney on his father Bill

FURTHER READING:

Lacrosse: A History of the Game by Donald M. Fisher

VIDEO:

933. NEW YORK KNICKS VS SYRACUSE NATIONALS

EASTERN DIVISION FINALS

GAME FIVE

APRIL 4, 1951

69TH REGIMENT ARMORY

QUALITY OF PLAY—6.78

DRAMA—8.45

STAR POWER—7.65

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.54

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.33

LOCAL IMPACT—5.67

TOTAL: 42.42

In the spring of 1951 the Knicks and the Syracuse Nationals continued a rivalry that had bloomed the year before, when the Nats won a hotly contested playoff series to advance to the NBA Finals. Both teams swept their respective semifinals in upsets to advance to the (newly) best-of-five Eastern Division finals. 

Alternating home games between the 69th Regiment Armory (the circus had forced the Knicks downtown from Madison Square Garden) on Lexington Avenue at 26th Street and the state fairgrounds in Syracuse, the teams spilt the first four games, setting up a decisive fifth game in Manhattan on a crisp Wednesday evening, April 4, 1951. 

In their fifth NBA season, the Knicks were largely mediocre, finishing the season 36-30. But Syracuse was no great shakes, having actually been sub-500 at 32-34. Joe Lapchick’s squad relied on the physical play of forwards “Vinegar" Vince Boryla and Harry “The Horse” Gallatin. Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, former Harlem Globetrotter and Negro League first baseman, was the second African-American player in the NBA (debuting just four days after Earl Lloyd). The great Dolph Schayes, former NYU superstar and future NBA Hall of Famer, was the standard bearer for Syracuse. His 34-point outburst in Game Four saved the Nats’ season.

A fast-paced and even first half ended with the score tied at 42-all. Syracuse took control in the back half of the third period, however, and led by seven entering the final twelve minutes. Some rugged offensive rebounding and a “fancy pivot shot” (Times) by Noble Jorgensen extended the Nats lead to a dozen at 70-58. In this pre-shot clock era, a 12-point deficit might as well have been 1200. The 5,300 (2,000 were turned away at the gates) fans jammed into the intimate Armory fell silent. Lapchick called timeout, but spent most of the respite staring into the middle distance. 

Somehow, the Knicks rallied, with a 9-0 burst that was considered among the franchise’s best moments for many decades hence. The key was a careless turnover by Whitey Macknowski, the hero of the decisive game in the 1950 Eastern Finals. The former Seton Hall ace chucked a “foolish, court-length heave” (Daily News) toward a teammate when milking the clock was the obvious strategem. Knicks guard Max Zaslovsky intercepted the pass and turned it into points for New York, then did it again and again as the Nats melted down. Clifton kept grabbing rebounds over Schayes, and when Ernie Vandeweghe’s long shot capped the run, amazingly the Knicks were only down three.

They seized the lead a few moments later when Boryla unleashed his inner Steph Curry and buried a 30-footer that caused an immense roar from the rafters. New York led, 76-75. Jorgensen scored again inside to put the Nats back in front, but from there Zaslovsky keyed another run, this time seven straight points, that put the Knicks ahead for good. The rules at the time held that after free throws there was a jump ball, not an alternating possession. New York repeatedly won the jumps after banging home their free throws, and the Nats had no chance for a rally of their own. The final score was a deceptive 83-81 as Syracuse popped in several late, meaningless points. 

It is difficult to visualize in this time of easy offense and huge lead changes what a shock it was in 1951 for a team to blow a late double-digit lead, especially in such a critical game. From the Bronx to Brooklyn and all the boroughs in between the comeback was talked about in awed tones, as the nascent City Game blossomed on the NYC streets. The key had been a rotating unit of defenders shutting down Schayes, who scored just 14 points on 4-10 shooting. By contrast, Boryla had 23, and Zaslovsky 17 with (unofficially) six steals. 

For the first time the Knicks had reached the NBA Finals. If their fans had any notion of the difficulty of repeating that journey over the next 70-plus years, they might have partied more heartily. 

AFTERMATH

The Knicks took on Rochester in the NBA Finals (yes, the Royals were in the Western Division). The result was a thrilling seven-game series that we will visit later on in the NYC1000.

WHAT THEY SAID

“The most glaring mistake that basketball pros can make—throwing the ball away when you’ve got the others hanging on the ropes—last night killed off Syracuse’s Nats and ultimately shoved the Knickerbockers into the NBA’s final round of championship playoffs for the first time in their five years.”

—Dana Mozley, New York Daily News

FURTHER READING:

Sweetwater by Foster Frank