In only his fourth season as the Bonnies head coach, Jim Satalin found himself in the national spotlight against famed coached Guy Lewis. Looking back 45 years later, Satalin recalled, “It was certainly a challenge for me to coach against someone of that stature, but I felt ok going into the game. I felt comfortable that we would be very competitive in this game for sure.”
A crowd of 12,451 packed Madison Square Garden for the 1pm tip on March 20, and Houston star Otis Birdsong was ready. The Bonnies led, 45-42, at halftime, but, by midway through the second half, he had already scored 36 points with Houston leading, 73-63.
However, Satalin wasn’t too concerned.
“I thought there was enough time left,” he recalled. “If it was a different team that might have been able to milk the clock more or wanted to do that, that might have been [different]. But Houston was not like that. They weren’t built that way. That gave us an opportunity to call timeout and say, ‘OK, we have plenty of time here. We just have to tighten up defensively, force them into some tough shots, and then go with it.’”
In the moment, even Satalin didn’t know that the spotlight was about to shift from Birdsong to SBU forward Greg Sanders. While Birdsong went quiet offensively, Sanders was just starting his barrage. “Greg at that point just got ridiculous,” Satalin said with a chuckle. “What he did was incredible down that stretch.”
One of the most famous baskets in Bona basketball history followed. In the closing minutes and the Bonnies down 87-86, Sanders made a 22-foot jumper from directly in front of the Bona bench. It may not have been the best shot selection on the possession, and Sanders admitted as much after the game in saying, “If I had missed, I wasn’t going to look at Coach.”
Satalin admired his confidence in shooting. “He was that kind of guy,” he remembered. “He just looked at it and thought, ‘I’m making this thing…it’s my time and I’m making this and that’s it.’ And he did…he had the game of his life.”
A miss by Sanders, in Satalin’s eyes, wouldn’t have meant defeat. “Had he missed that shot, there was still time for us,” he said.
Sanders’ basket, likely the most critical basket in the 2238 points of his Bona career, was crushing for Houston. “At that point, once we got ahead of them, that was going to be hard for them to come back,” Satalin said. “Our confidence was soaring at that time.”
The Bonnies prevailed despite 17 turnovers, the last of which could have been most costly. According to The New York Times, Houston guard Ken Williams hurried downcourt after the turnover and took a shot, “seemingly in panic, instead of slowing down the game and setting up a play.” Bona center Tim Waterman grabbed the rebound and headed to the foul line, making one free throw.
Another free throw by Bonnie guard Glenn Hagan extended the lead to 92-89 before Birdsong hit a basket—his last field goal in the final nine minutes—to close it to a one-point Bona lead. Hollis’ layup at the buzzer electrified the Bona crowd in capping off its first post-season tournament championship.
Sanders’ performance earned him tournament MVP honors. His 40 points hid one other key statistic: He collected a game-high 12 rebounds, an area of the game that some saw tilting toward Houston and its leading rebounder Mike Schultz prior the game. “Greg was a very, very good offensive rebounder, so my guess is, in that game, he got a significant amount of offensive rebounds. Probably five or so at least.”
Satalin pointed to the Bona free throw shooting (32-46) that resulted from Houston’s 29 fouls. “We tried to create a lot. Hagan was great at that, getting to the basket and getting [the ball] to the right guys. That was a major factor in the game. No question,” he said.
Looking back, Satalin expressed pride in the four-game streak culminating in the championship. “We played the best teams, which proved to me that I was right in saying that we were good enough to win this thing,” he said.
And win they did…a first post-season tournament championship in a program dating to 1919-20.
