Peacocks fly into NCAA Tournament with MAAC title win over Monmouth

Saint Peter’s celebrates first MAAC championship since 2011 after defeating Monmouth for automatic bid to NCAA Tournament. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Before arriving for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament this week, Shaheen Holloway felt his Saint Peter’s team had just begun to understand what postseason basketball was all about.

Less than 24 hours before Selection Sunday and the announcement of the field of 68, the Peacocks now have a Masters degree in that discipline, with a major in conference championships.

In a game that defined the gritty, workmanlike style for which Saint Peter’s has come to be known, the Peacocks pushed all the right buttons defensively, holding an opposing Monmouth team to 23 percent shooting and squeezing the life out of the Hawks inside Boardwalk Hall Saturday, strutting into the NCAA Tournament with a 60-54 victory for the program’s first MAAC title since 2011.

“This moment is just surreal,” said senior KC Ndefo, the tournament’s most valuable player. “I’m just at a loss for words right now. To be up here with my brothers and with this trophy, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

“For us, it’s crazy,” Holloway admitted, winning a conference crown in just his fourth year at the helm in Jersey City. “These guys brought Saint Peter’s back. They believed in me, believed in my vision, and they followed it the whole year. It’s not about me. It’s about them. I want this moment to be about them.”

Saint Peter’s (19-11) established its blue-collar identity from the opening tip, making Monmouth labor on every offensive possession, even as Ndefo and Fousseyni Drame fouled out. The Hawks, who made just 12 field goals the entire day, were the latest casualty of the MAAC’s best scoring defense, an elite unit that in its last six games — regular season and MAAC tournament — allowed an average of just 49.5 points per game, reaffirming the calling card to which Holloway reminded his players of their modus operandi.

“He just gave us this whole blueprint that we were going to be a defense-first team that was going to allow us to do what we wanted on offense and be able to execute,” Ndefo elaborated. “We just listened to him. He’s been everywhere that we want to be, so we’ve got to follow in his footsteps.”

Still, Monmouth (21-13) was able to remain within earshot by getting to the free throw line, where the Hawks made 27 of their 33 attempts. The efficiency at the stripe kept the margin at a tight two points inside the final minute, when Doug Edert converted a drive-and-kick from Daryl Banks III into a backbreaking 3-pointer on the left wing, extending Saint Peter’s lead to five and essentially icing the game after Monmouth turned the ball over on its ensuing trip down the floor.

“From what I could remember — my memory’s not that good — I saw Daryl making a great drive middle,” Edert — whose 20 points were a game-high — said. “He got in the paint, my man helped down and he found me an open spot. I just shot it with a lot of confidence, and it felt really good.”

Saint Peter’s now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate, which it will learn tomorrow amid a sea of optimism and a driven head coach who made it clear immediately after cutting down the net that the job was not finished.

“We’ve got work to do,” Holloway reiterated. “I don’t want to be one of those teams that just makes it. I want to try and make a run in it. I think because of the way we play and the number of guys we play, and you’ve all seen the NCAA Tournament, if we get a good seed, anything can happen.”

“Coming into the season, we knew we had a chance to do something big,” Ndefo reflected. “I’m just happy we were able to follow through. We’re capable of anything. If we just go out there, play defense, let our defense translate to offense and we’re really locked in, we could beat anybody.”