'Yes, fans, there is a Wright State basketball team'By Marc Katz
Monday, December 17, 2007
FAIRBORN — When Wright State sophomores Vaughn Duggins and Troy Brown let it be known the play that led to Brown's buzzer-beating 3-point shot to beat Miami 58-57 Saturday night was called "Virginia," a group of boosters wanted Sunday's headline to be, "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
Gosh, it's been more than 100 years since a New York editor wrote that line to a little girl wanting to know if it was true. And we're still using the phrase.
The better answer might be, "Yes, fans, there is a Wright State basketball team."
It is a team that fought back from a 16-point deficit to tie Miami, then fall behind by two points with five seconds to play. Duggins passed the ball to Brown for the winning shot as the buzzer sounded. The Raiders threw their arms in the air in glee, then shook the hands of the RedHawks.
There was plenty of room for excuses, but none were offered — except by opposing coaches.
First WSU coach Brad Brownell offered — without being asked — "Without question, it helped us that Michael Bramos got hurt. I feel bad for that, for Charlie (Coles) and his staff and his players for him (Bramos) to get hurt with six minutes to go. He was clearly one of their best players and was not able to finish the game the way he normally would."
Then it was the Miami coach's turn. He had to play without starting center Tyler Dierkers, who was sick, while WSU was without starting forward Scottie Wilson, who injured his eye earlier in the day.
"I think from a power standpoint, they probably needed Wilson a little more than we needed Dierkers," Coles said, again without being asked. "They had a great game plan and they never quit. I hated that we lost that ball game, but I've got to give them credit. They did a wonderful job of coming out the second half and being patient.
"I'd say the turning point in the game was we had to play the second half. They were so much tougher than us. So much tougher. We were literally begging our players to play."
Brownell had to love hearing that. He's been wanting his players to play tougher, they way they did two games before in a 43-42 victory over Butler.
"When you beat Butler, that's pretty impressive," Coles said. "Nobody beats Butler but Wright State. In the first half we scored, but that turned into fool's gold. We were asking, how'd that funny looking shot go in? A lot of times you're not as motivated in the second half because we had a big lead."
Coles said he wasn't about to complain about 0.7 seconds being added to the clock after his team took a 57-55 lead with what was eventually deemed 5.0 seconds left. In last season's MAC championship game, there was a question of how much time was left on the clock following what turned out to be a winning Miami basket. Miami's victory in that game landed the RedHawks in the NCAA tournament.
"We got in the NCAA tournament last year because people questioned the clock, and I was the happiest man in the world," Coles said. "Maybe somebody will give me some hard evidence later (that Brown's shot was too late). That would be a good way to spend part of the summer, being mad. We've won some like that and we've lost some like that. He still had to make a tough shot."
Yes, Virginia, there are at least two coaches left who understand real sportsmanship.
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