BOSTON – Thankfully, it appears John Vaughan will be okay after what happened Wednesday night at Matthews Arena. A report on Thursday said he will be out for at least a week, but it’s certainly better than being a life-changing injury, which some at the arena surely feared. The obvious reason to be happy has nothing to do with basketball, as over 2,300 worried people in the arena were practically silent for several minutes while he was down on the floor. The less obvious reason is that it allows us to better appreciate what was a tremendous college basketball game where both teams showed a lot. Because let’s face it, if Vaughan had come away with a serious, even life-changing injury, it would be hard to think about basketball at all right now – much like it was for everyone involved in the game.
There was some irony to it as well considering the setting and the coach. For George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga, it reminded him of something earlier in his tenure. Seven years ago, former Patriot Darren Tarver collapsed during a pickup game. He had the same heart condition the late Reggie Lewis – Northeastern’s all-time greatest player – had. Fortunately, the story had a happy ending in that Tarver is still with us.
“Fortunately for us and for Darren especially, there was a gentleman, Dr. Dave Beaver, who specializes in teaching CPR,” Larranaga recalled. “He was next door – his office is next door to the gym – and he got in there and applied CPR until the EMTs got there. When I was observing, Darren was out cold, EMTs put a portable defibrillator on him, jump-started his heart because he had flat-lined, and were able to revive him. He now lives with a pacemaker in his chest.”
To a man, Northeastern’s players and coaches said the post-game celebration of their 58-57 win over George Mason was a bit muted. Sure, there was the initial celebration once the final buzzer had sounded, but the locker room was a bit different. They all understand that there’s basketball, and there’s life, and seeing what happened to Vaughan was a reminder.
“First and foremost, our thoughts, our concerns and our prayers are with John Vaughan,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen. “We’re out here playing a basketball game, and sometimes you get caught up just in the emotion of the game. That was just a reminder to all of us that this is just a game. There are more important things going on. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, and we hope he has a speedy recovery and can join his team.”
“It’s a win, but it kind of puts a damper on things,” said Husky junior Matt Janning, who led the way with 20 points. “Everybody’s thinking about him. Guys know who he is, it’s not like he’s an enemy. Everybody’s thinking about him and hoping for the best.”
Indeed, how do you go back on the court and continue playing the final minutes of the game after this has happened? It was surely easier said than done.
“It’s tough,” Janning reflected. “We sat there for 10, 15 minutes. But like Coach said, you’ve got different thoughts. You’re thinking about him, you’re thinking about what you’re trying to do out there. We were fortunate to come out with the win.”
And what a win it was. The obvious thing is that the Huskies are now in a three-way tie atop the Colonial Athletic Association with a 7-1 mark. But more important was how they won the game, and that was the case even before the drama at the end of the game.
For most of the game, the Huskies had the lead and were only semi-seriously threatened. George Mason stayed within striking distance, but the difference was more than one possession for a large majority of the game. After Northeastern went up 5-2 early on, George Mason got within three eight times, and on all but one occasion, the Huskies scored again on either the next possession or the one right after it. It was that one occasion that was part of the final drama.
Vaughan went down after the first of two free throws by Nkem Ojougboh, who played a far better game than his final stat line (four points, seven boards and one block) would suggest. When the game finally resumed, the Patriots went on a 6-0 run to take a 57-56 lead with less than a minute to play. It looked like it might be a textbook story: a player goes down, the team rallies around and wins an emotional game for him. That it was a road game and against an opponent nipping at their heels in the standings would only add to it.
But then the Huskies showed the kind of toughness that makes them a contender in this conference. They shook off everything working against them – a loss of focus, the psychological impact of losing a lead they held the entire game, and the momentum of an opponent surely trying to win one for their player. With 25 seconds left, Manny Adako converted a pass from Baptiste Bataille to give the Huskies their final lead of the game at 58-57. The Huskies were able to keep George Mason from getting off a shot to win the game in the final seconds.
To come back and win against a team ready to claim an emotional road win, which the Huskies did, is big for this team. It can’t be underestimated, considering that not only would they have blown a lead they held all game in a crucial matchup, but also that they were able to rebound after a late struggle that could have cost them. It also comes as they’re about to go on a crucial road trip that takes them to Old Dominion and VCU.
“It’s nice to be back up there,” said Janning, who was 8-13 from the field. “We played well today. We were slow after what happened.”
Coen thought the Huskies lost focus after Vaughan went down, and it was clear. But you also have to give credit in that late run to the Patriots, who came alive and were surely trying to win one for their senior, who’s had a fine career and was leading them on the evening as he had 19 points on 7-10 shooting, including 5-7 from long range. So much was stacked against them – being on the road, trailing all game, having their best player go down – and they rallied to have a chance to win the game.
“We put ourselves in a position with two and a half minutes to go to have a chance to win,” said Larranaga. “Heck, with 20 seconds to go or 30 seconds to go we were up one.”
All of what Larranaga knew after the game, before he headed to Beth Israel Hospital to be with Vaughan, was positive. There were reasons to be optimistic, as Larranaga said medical personnel took his blood pressure and pulse and felt both were okay, and there was a message he shared with trainer Debi Corbatto.
“I think the only message that John shared with Debi that she shared with me is he asked if he could go back in,” Larranaga said. “I think that was a good sign.”
A good sign that we can really appreciate the game after all.
