The seminal moment came early—actually as Marcus Kahn was walking off the court in early January. The coach just finished watching his team come back from a large deficit to beat a pretty good team when the idea struck him—we could have something kind of special going on here.
A 14-game winning streak and a few months later, Kahn’s intuition was correct. The Cavaliers are 24-5 and for the second time in school history Cabrini is headed to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16. It’s been a long, arduous course for a team that was once 4-3 and didn’t have an identity to the fighting, scrappy team the Cavaliers have evolved into this season.
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. comes the major step, when Cabrini plays No. 5 the College of Wooster (Wooster, Ohio) in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Sweet 16. So it’s only fitting that Cabrini reached this lofty position the only way the Cavaliers seem to know, fighting back from a 13-point halftime deficit to beat Skyline Conference champion SUNY-Purchase, 91-84, on Saturday. It marked the Cavaliers’ first NCAA Tournament victory and Sweet 16 appearance since the 2001-02 season.
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“We did have a lot back, but we were really young last year and whether or not we were Sweet 16 worthy or not, I wasn’t sure,” Kahn admitted. “I certainly expected to get back to the tournament and as the year went on, and when the brackets came out, that’s when I really felt good about our chances. We saw we got to host that first weekend and it became more real and we had a legitimate shot at getting here.”
The Cavaliers have done it with a high-octane offense that averages close to 80 points a game, and a defense that Kahn tinkers with often, changing its form and its intensity. They’ve also reached this level by acquiring a certain amount of grit. But that tenacity didn’t come easily. It had an adversity base.
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Kahn found out a lot the night of January 7, when the Cavaliers were hosting Keystone College. Cabrini was trailing by eight points with 10 minutes left in the game. Kahn had called a timeout and moved to a press defense. Keystone didn’t know how to react. They crumbled and Cabrini won, 68-57.
“I remember walking off the court thinking ‘here we go, we can do this,’” Kahn said. “That game told me we have something to build on here. After that, we were able to put our best foot forward.”
The Cavaliers lost their next game, to Marywood, 57-55, and then proceeded to go on a 14-game winning streak. Since January 10, Cabrini has gone 18-1.
“We got to the first round last year, but I can’t say that I saw this coming,” said Cory Lemons, a sophomore guard who transferred into Cabrini and is the Cavaliers’ second-leading scorer averaging 17.2 points a game. “I think the experience of losing in the first round of the playoffs by 30 was a very, very embarrassing experience none of us wanted to through again. It’s why we put in the work and the effort to get this far. And I think it’s our defense that sets the tone. We were down by 13 against Purchase at halftime and came back and won. We don’t like digging holes for ourselves, but we’ve shown we can dig out of them.”
That ability has been cultivated during the season—something that surfaced through time.
“I would say our team personality right now is that we’re just a different group of guys; when you spent as much time together as we do, you learn about each other,” Kahn said. “We just find ways to win. The one thing we have in common, which became evident, was that we just don’t quit. The personality that’s developed is that guys that weren’t leaders and quiet have developed into leaders. Tim Sayles and A.J. Williams, two of the most quiet guys on the team and both sophomores, really know how to lead this team. It’s been really fun to watch and be a part of, and it’s developed as the season has gone on. That’s what’s made us good.”
What’s left now is Wooster. It’s a team that has some size and shoots well. But Wooster will be running into a confident Cabrini team.
“I have a good feeling about this,” said senior Dom Farrello, Cabrini’s top scorer, averaging 17.9 points a game. “It’s now down to the top 16 teams and every team has a chance and deserves to be here, that’s the way I look at it. We’re enjoying the ride right now and we’re not satisfied. No team wants to end their season with a loss. We don’t want to lose at this point.”
