| November 14 2002 - There was no better way to begin the 2002-2003 season than to play in the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, against the Memphis Tigers. It was also the perfect place for superstar freshman Carmelo Anthony to make his debut. The 'Cuse played horrific in the first half but Carmelo Anthony kept the Orange in the game scoring twenty-one of his twenty-nine points in the first half. Syracuse came out of halftime running and playing good defense lead by Sophmore Josh Pace. Freshman Gerry McNamara hit fourthree pointers to give Syracuse a five point lead. Despite the run, Syracuse then went cold scoring only five points in the final eight minutes in the losee to Memphis. |
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| November 14 2002 - The Oklahoma Sooners tipped of against the Alabahma Crimson Tide in the Second Half of the Coached vs. Cancer Classic at the Garden, The Sooners were ranked number three in the country but that meant nothing to Alabahma who came off with the thrilling upset at the Garden. |
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| November 27 2002 - The Pre-Season NIT's smeifinals were at Madison Square Garden. The first game was between number 7 in the country Florida against unranked Stanford. Florida held a small lead for most of the game. In the final seconds of the game Stanford took a two point lead. A missed three for Florida at the buzzer would cap off the huge upset. The second game was between number 2 in the country Kansas who faced off against popular North Carolina. The Tar Heels walked into the Garden with three freshman starters and 11 point underdogs. The game began with a Carolina dunk and the heels never looked back. Dunks and three point shots were ocurring every second of the game from the unraked Tar Heels. North Carolina would defeat coach Roy Williams and Kansas by a whopping 17 point win. |
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| December 27 2002 - Madison Square Garden has hosted the Holiday Festival for 50 years and it has never seen a more suprising semi final than 2002. The first game was between the 23rd ranked North Carolina Tar Heels against the local Iona Gaels. Despite Iona being only minutes away the crowd was behind the powder blue Tar Heels. Despite playing almost a road game against a ranked team did not stop the Gaels from dominated North Carolina in a double digit win that gave Iona one of their biggest wins in their history. The second game was between the home team Saint John's Red Storm and the Manhatten Jaspers. The Jaspers were underdogs by ten points but this did not intimidate Manhatten College. The Jaspers dominated from tipoff and defeated St. John's by double digits led by Junior Luis Flores (from Norman Thomas High School). |
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| January 16 2003 - Despite a 24 point effort by Marcus Hatten the Saint John's Red Storm could not pull off the victory at Madison Square Garden against the Villinova Wildcats. The first half was dominated by 'Nova but a late run in the second half by SJU narrowed the lead to a single basket but the Red Storm could not overcome freshman Randy Foye, 20 points, and senior Ricky Right, 19 points. |
| January 27 2003 - Madison Square Garden was rockin as the highly ranked and hated UCONN Huskies came into town. The Huskies defeated SJU led by Ben Gorden with 23 points and Emeka Okafor with 21 points. Another great game by Marcus Hatten who scred 24 points and reached a milestone, scoring his 1,000 point as a member with Saint Johns in only his second year. |
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| January 18 2003 - The Saint Johns Red Storm and Georgetwon Hoyas are among the biggest rivalries among Big East. In the 80's it was Patrick Ewing vs. Chris Mullin, in the 90's it was Felipe Lopez vs. Allan Iverson, and now in the year 2003 it is Marcus Hatten vs. Mike Sweetney. It was a crazy game at the MCI Center, the first half ended in a tie but with 7:23 to go in the game the Hoyas led by 16 points. Saint Johns guard, Marcus Hatten added another page to this histoic rivalry scoring 19 points to end the game and led SJU to victory. The MCI Center was shocked, one of the biggest comebacks in history. Saint Johns pressed to finish the game and forced key turnovers. Missed free throws by Georgetown and key three pointers by Marcus Hatten added more fire to the flame of the Hoya-SJU rivalry. |
| February 8 - Saint Johns lose to Virginia Tech at Alumni Hall. February 15 - Saint Johns lose to Providence at Alumni Hall, and i was present for the the first time that saint johns mens basketball team lost back to back games at alumni hall. |
| March 2 2003 - The (13-12) Saint John's Redstorm faced the number 5 team in the country and the most historic program in college basketball, Duke University. The Johnnies were not given a chance but great grames from Elijah Ingram and Marcus Hatten kept the game close. Saint John's was down by nine with about 4 minutes to go as they went a 9-0 run led by Marcus Hatten. Anthony Glover hit a big time three to cut the lead to one and Kyle Cuffe's free throw tied the game up. Marcus Hatten then mist a jumper with 25 seconds to go and the Duke Blue Devils held for the final shot. Chris Duhon just dribbled the ball wasting time when out of nowhere Marcus Hatten tips the ball away, a struggle for the ball at halfcourt is won by Hatten, and Marcus charges to the basket with 2.3 seconds to but misses the lay up but a whistle is blown. A foul is called with no time on the clock. Marcus Hatten to the line for two free throws. As soon as the first free throw is released Marcus Hatten knows he's just beaten Duke. The Garden errupts, the SJU team carries Hatten into the locker room and the Redmen fans rush the Madison Square Garden court. |
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