By KEVIN ROSSI
Philahoops Staff
NEW YORK - As the end of regulation drew near, it looked like the Drexel Dragons were going to blow their second straight double-digit first-half lead and leave Madison Square Garden empty-handed on their trip to the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Then, down two points with 12 seconds to play, who else but Chris Fouch went off to the races after a steal and a lay-up on the other end to tie the game with Alabama 61-all. Three crazy overtimes ensued, and the Dragons outlasted the Crimson Tide 85-83.
For a program that struggles to put together a high-quality nonconference schedule, this is a major victory. Alabama is an SEC program and a good one at that. They’re a well-coached basketball team under head coach Anthony Grant that plays a tough schedule. To pick up this win before heading to the DAC on Wednesday for their home opener and without their second-leading scorer Damion Lee is huge for Drexel’s confidence and postseason resume.
They’re 4-2 now with their two losses coming against two top-25 PAC 12 teams (UCLA and Arizona) by a combined nine points.
The game took too many twists and turns to even begin to count. First, Drexel jumped on top of Alabama using a balanced inside-outside offensive attack and staunch defense. Heading into the locker room after the first half, the Dragons held a 32-21 lead while holding the Tide to 28 percent shooting from the floor.
The only concern on Bruiser Flint’s mind was Frantz Massenat and Tavon Allen finding themselves in foul trouble with three apiece. In fact Massenat picked up his third with 7:37 to play in the first half and sat for the next 13 and a half minutes (7:37 in the 1st to 14:11 in the 2nd). After the game, though, he said that the breather let him save his legs for the marathon that was yet to come.
“It definitely did (help),” Massenat said after the game. “If I was in, I probably would have been more tired. The younger guys filled in and did a great job. Playing with foul trouble, you have to play more conscious, but it worked out for me.”
Nick Jacobs put Alabama on his back in the second half. Working against Drexel’s defense that started in a man-to-man then switched to zone to protect their guards from further foul trouble, Jacobs kept finding holes in the Dragons defense underneath the basket. He scored 10 of his game-high 23 points (off of the bench) in the second half.
Alabama didn’t see their first lead of the game until the 4:33 mark in the second half and grew their lead up to four with under a minute left. That’s when Dartaye Ruffin put back a Kazembe Abif miss to cut the Tide’s lead to two with 40 seconds to go. Then, in what looked like a sure fouling situation for the Dragons, Fouch struck with the steal and the bucket to tie the game up.
Drexel was holding onto a 67-65 lead with less than 20 seconds left in the first overtime. It looked like they would come out victorious right then and there. Alabama’s Levi Randolph collected a Trevor Releford miss and with 12 seconds left, went up for the game tying lay-up. Drexel freshman Rodney Williams, who played 30-minutes or more the last two nights, rose up and blocked Randolph’s attempt with the ball falling into Fouch’s hands. Fouch was promptly fouled with a chance to seal the game at the line for the Dragons.
“He’s getting better every game,” Flint said of Williams. “I think he’s getting more confident. One thing that Rod can do is he can play in these games because he’s athletic enough. He’s only played in six games. He’s getting better every game, and I think this was big for him to go against Alabama, Arizona. That’s SEC, [PAC] 12, and he’s played well against those types of athletes.”
Chris Fouch led the Drexel scoring attack with 19 points in a win over Alabama. (Philahoops/Kevin Rossi)
Shooting 85 percent from the line this season, Fouch missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving the Tide another chance. Retin Obasohan was fouled by Fouch with four seconds to go and knocked down both free throws to send the game to a second overtime with the score tied 67-67.
The Dragons jumped out to another lead in the second overtime, a lead that grew as big as five. Alabama slowly chipped away, and Obasohan tied the game from the free-throw line again this time with 15 seconds to play and the score tied at 77-77. Allen broke the Tide’s press and called timeout with 11 seconds left to set up one last play. Out of the timeout, Fouch took his man off of the dribble to the hoop and drew what looked like the foul that would send him to the line with a chance to win it with 2.5 seconds left. The whistles remained silent and the game headed to the third overtime.
For Drexel, the third overtime was the charm. Abif, a 55 percent free throw shooter on the year, was able to knock down all four of his attempts in the third overtime to help the Dragons build a six-point advantage. Still, the Tide climbed back to make it a two-point game.
With Drexel leading 85-83, Alabama came out of a timeout in their end with 10 seconds to play. They drew up a play for their leading scorer, Releford, who missed his shot. The rebound was collected by freshman Jimmie Taylor, who drew a foul with three seconds to go.
The Garden crowd groaned. They wanted the game to end so they could see the main event, No. 6 Duke versus No. 4 Arizona in the title game. Taylor stepped to the line for two shots with a chance to tie with the crowd wishing for a miss.
Taylor granted wishes of the Garden crowd, missing the first and intentionally missing the second. Alabama couldn’t come up with the rebound off of the second miss and fell to Drexel 85-83 in a thriller.
After the game, Flint expressed how proud he was of his team for their resolve.
But he was far from surprised with the result.
“We came here and we felt like we could win games. We didn’t come here just to be in the tournament,” Flint said. “To be honest with you, I was a little disappointed about Wednesday night, and I told the guys that. ”
“We talked about coming in here and winning games, and we were realistic about it,” Flint continued. “We didn’t come in here thinking let’s just play a close game. That’s not what we were thinking. I’m really honest with my team, and I told them I think we can beat anyone. I think we’re good enough to do that. Tonight, we pulled one out, and we needed this.”
After a hot start, shooting 4 for 7 from the field for 10 points at the half, Fouch hit a cold spell the rest of the game. He finished with a team-high 19 points, but he shot 3 for 14 after the first 20 minutes.
“We really grinded it out,” Fouch said of his team’s will to win. “When it came down to it, we buckled down, made a stop when we needed it, and got the win.”
“I have got to give credit to Drexel, I thought they came out right from the beginning of the game with great energy,” Grant said after the game.
“I’m proud of our guys for the fight we had in the second half and the overtimes to battle,” Grant continued. “Drexel’s a very good team. They’re guys played with great heart and great energy. They deserved to win.”
With the win, Drexel moves to 4-2 on the season. Their next game will be their home opener at the DAC on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Cleveland State.
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Notes: Alabama’s Nick Jacobs had 23 points and eight rebounds off of the bench and Trevor Releford added 21 points of his own. … After missing the Arizona game with a concussion, Kaz Abif recorded a 15 point, 11 rebound double-double. … Retin Obasohan went 12 for 15 from the free throw line. … Drexel’s starting guards - Chris Fouch, Frantz Massenat, and Tavon Allen – combined to score 52 of the team’s 85 points. … The battle of the boards was about even as Alabama pulled down one more than Drexel (44-43). … Drexel won the points in the paint 46-40. … After shooting 28 percent in the first half, Alabama shot 62.5 percent in the second half. … After getting to the line only seven times against Arizona on Wednesday (5 for 7), Drexel went to the line 31 times tonight against Alabama (25-31).
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Lee Injury Update: Prior to the game, Drexel’s Sports Information Director Mike Tuberosa said that Damion Lee would be seeing a doctor on Saturday and getting an MRI on Monday. Lee injured his right knee halfway through the second half on Wednesday against Arizona and did not play tonight against Alabama.
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NIT All-Tournament Team: Jabari Parker (Duke); Rodney Hood (Duke); Aaron Gordon (Arizona); Nick Johnson (Arizona); Frantz Massenat (Drexel). Johnson also won Most Outstanding Player for the tournament.
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Kevin Rossi
I can assure you Alabama is not a Top 50 team. A number of teams are better than them in the SEC at least 5 teams. They couldn’t defend and the game turned out to be a game of fouls and free throws. Great game but let’s not hype up Drexel…they aren’t that special.
Oooo you sound jealous. Drexel loses close games to UCLA and Arizona but beats Rutgers and ‘Bama in the NIT. Drexel off to a very hot start. True they gave up big leads in the Zona and Bama games but they hing in ther for both games to the bitter end. They play with heart which makes them special in my book. Nice job, Bruiser. Philly, you have a nice team in Drexel.
Drexel’s nothing special. They are nowhere near those Jaspers of Manhattan that beat the mighty Explorers. Hell theyre not even in the Big 5! And having bleachers behind the backboards….ew.
Go LaSalle.
Drexel has proven it can play with and beat schools from the power conference — this year and in the past.
“Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here…don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game, if you put your effort and concentration into being the best that you can be, in my book, we’re gonna be winners.” Drexel is special.
Drexel played Arizona closer than Duke did and got a big win vs a solid Alabama team. Drexel is good enough defensively to take most teams in the country right to the wire. They’d beat anyone in the big 5 this season if they weren’t scared to play them.
I give credit to Drexel for hanging onto Arizona BUT the Rutgers win is not good, they are awful. Alabama is a mediocre SEC team. They lost to UCLA first game of the season when they had a chance to sneak up on them. Let’s get to the NCAA before we start talking about how underrated Bruiser is and how “special” Drexel is. Bruiser makes the same mistake every year by not playing the Big 5, it is a HUGE mistake. Delaware, Northeastern and Towson are all just as good as Drexel. Northeastern beat Georgetown, Towson has had it’s best start ever, and Delaware hung on against Nova. Drexel going to somehow hope to win the CAA which they can do but just like 2012 it’s going to be a challenge. If they played the Big 5 and won they could get an at large bid. The past 18 years whoever has won the Big 5 has gone on to the NCAA. You have to have a decent schedule in order to obtain an at large bid. Hoping to just win the conference tournament is a huge mistake when you have the opportunity to bring in real opponents right next door in the Palestra.