On this date in College Basketball, Super Bowl and Lehman Boys Basketball History

January 27, 1991, Super Bowl XXV, The New York Giants took on the Buffalo Bills. The Giants advanced to the Super Bowl by defeating the 2 time defending champion San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. That was also the same game where Giants linebacker Leonard Marshall made the crushing hit on 49er and Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana, that would end his 49er career. The Bills advanced to the Super Bowl by defeating the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Title game 51-3, The Raiders defeated the Bengals the week before in the divisional round, that was also the same game that Kevin Walker made the hit on legendary sports superstar Bo Jackson, that would end his football playing days. The Giants would defeat the Bills 20-19. This game will always be remembered for two memorable moments: Whitney Houston’s wonderful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner before kickoff and Scott Norwood’s missed 47 yard Field Goal as time expired.

January 27, 1996, My Dad, Matt Zimmerman and I drove down to UD Arena, to watch the Xavier Musketeers take on the Flyers in Dayton. We met up with Casey Barhorst, a friend of Emily’s at the time, he bought tickets for me, for when I got my body cast off a month earlier. The Flyers trailed by 12 with 8:00 to go. We had to leave to get back to Sidney for the Lehman Minster basketball game ( which is going to be talked about shortly) As we got into the car, Dayton had trimmed the Xavier lead to five. The game was tied with 2:00 to go and off the bench came little used sophomore Rodney Horton. Horton would swish a three pointer to give Dayton the lead and on the next possession would make a two point basket to give Dayton a five point lead as Dayton would go on to win the 68-63. Horton would win the games most outstanding player and would etch his name into the ranks along with another Flyer player that will be talked about next month. This game was also one of the last home games at UD Arena for the Late Chris Daniels.

                        

Later that night at Sidney High School, the Lehman Cavaliers took on the Minster Wildcats in boys basketball. After two quarters it looked like the Wildcats had buried the Cavs. As the 3^rd quarter was coming to an end, Lehman was down by 22 points. Senior forward Matt Hartings, took a pass at the half court line and banked home a buzzer beater three pointer to give the Cavaliers a spark. In the fourth quarter, Lehman would make a miraculous comeback, led by seniors Kevin Geise, Jason Rosenbeck, junior Nick Koon. Lehman led the Wildcats by three late in the fourth quarter and Minster’s PJ Seiter, buried a three to tie the game. Kevin Geise would have the final answer, as he quickly raced the ball up the court and would swish a runner in the lane as time expired to give Lehman a thrilling 62-60 victory at Sidney High School.

 

January 27, 2001, The Duke Blue Devils were among the best in College Basketball that season. They would win their 3^rd National Championship that year, but before they could do that they had to travel to Maryland to take on a pesky Terrapin team. The Terrapins would lead through out the whole game and would hold a 10 point lead with 60 seconds remaining. No lead would be safe against the 2001 Duke team. Led by Jason Williams, Shane Battier, Chris Duhon and Mike Dunleavy. The Blue Devils would storm back and tie the game and force over time. The Blue Devils would go on to win in overtime 96-94. At the end of the game, ESPN’s Mike Patrick, would say “this is the most remarkable comeback I have ever seen”. The Blue Devils and Terrapins would play three more times that year and all of them would be thrillers.