To Durham and Back

The St. Johns Men’s basketball team has a rich history of winning and playing competitively.

However, this has not been the case in recent years as the school's basketball program has been swept under the population's conscientiousness as a result of losing, scandals and lack of interest from fans.

In 2009, the Red Storm is trying to change that while making noise in the process. Going undefeated in 6 games for the first time since 2002 has gained them national recognition and a national ranking of 35.

But the Johnnies toughest opponent was lying in wait, as the team was ready to play in the biggest game of the young season.

Their opponent...the Duke University Blue Devils.

A team that has won their conference championship 7 times this decade and made the NCAA tournament each year since 1995.

Defeating them would be a daunting task for any team especially since they were to travel to North Carolina to face Duke on their home court where they rarely lose.

David Berov and Frank Quasim, co-sports directors at St. Johns student run radio station WSJU, came up with the idea to take the trip to Durham and Broadcast the game back in September.

“Me and Dave wanted to do something big this year.” Said Frank “And when we saw Duke on the schedule we knew we had to go.”

Once the pair approached WSJU general manager Al Ragone with the proposition of a road trip to Duke, the manager agreed and the trip was a go.

Dave and Frank picked seven other members from the station to accompany them on this trip.

Derek Sheppard and Rob Tausch were the first ones to be chosen because Derek was the pre-game and post-game announcer while Rob was the station’s technical “guru”.

The other five were committed students to the team and wanted to show their pride.

On Friday December 4th, the nine St. John’s students left for North Carolina on a nine-hour trip across four states.

“The trip was long and tiring but with the right people in the car, it can be loads of fun too.” Said Dan Martin a member of WSJU’s sports department.

When the crew arrived in Durham, they all breathed a sigh of relief and got right into making themselves at home.

The broadcast team however, was not so fortunate. They immediately went to the office of the hotel and began preparing for the next day’s game.

“We couldn’t waste any time.” Said David Berov “This is the biggest game of WSJU’s sports department and we have to be sure it’s as close to perfect as possible.”

All that preparation paid off as the next day the team went to Cameron Indoor Stadium and set up for the game.

At 3:30 pm, the St. Johns vs. Duke basketball game was underway.

The Red Storm started off strong going basket for basket with the Devils but it wasn’t long till Duke went on a run ending the first half with a 16 point lead.

The deficit is a tough mountain to climb on the road in one of the most hostile environments in the country.

“I’ve never been anywhere like this.” Said Idil Kirimica a member of the station “The noise level is almost deafening, I don’t know how they can play in this.”

When the second half started the Johnnies seemed like an entirely different team. They tightened up their defense and made some critical shots as they chipped away at Duke’s lead.

At one point, St. John’s cut the lead to only four with seven minutes remaining. But Duke showed why they are one of the elite teams in college basketball by overcoming the Red Storm surge and pulling out the victory 80-71.

“Considering the program at Duke and the odds we were up against we did well” said Quasim “We showed how tough we were and that this season will be different from the others.”

A strong performance by St. Johns reassured the gang’s reasons for traveling this far. They got to see their team go toe to toe with a goliath-like school and almost pull off the upset.

The trip was a success and everyone who went enjoyed them selves. But this won’t be the last WSJU sports trip. Dave and Frank are already working on planning trips to Syracuse, the University of Connecticut, Rutgers and Georgetown in Washington D.C.

So expect the sports department to come back to New York with more good news of the St. John’s men’s basketball team.

Here's a video I threw together that encompasses the weekend trip in a few minutes.