By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The most successful Bridgewater State men's basketball season ever reached its high point on a Saturday night in 2009.
The Bears were some 200 miles away from home, in the western part of Vermont, playing a nationally ranked team in the second round of the NCAA Division 3 tournament.
Bridgewater State had never won two games in the same NCAA tourney, and the Bears weren't receiving much respect as they faced ninth-ranked Middlebury College, the New England Small College Athletic Conference champion.
"I remember an article in d3hoops that was talking about the brackets," said Bridgewater State center Roland Millien. "It said Middlebury can get their bus ride ready for New Jersey (site of the Sweet 16) because it's going to be an easy path."
The Bears stayed right with Middlebury, however, but they were facing a five-point deficit with less than a minute remaining and it appeared that an expected second-round elimination was going to happen.
Instead, Bridgewater State pulled off a memorable comeback in the final 37 seconds, stunning the Panthers and a capacity crowd of 1,200 at Pepin Gym, to reach the Sweet 16 for the only time in program history.
That remarkable run took place 15 years ago this winter with Bridgewater State ousting Middlebury, 78-76, on March 7, 2009.
The Bears established a program record for wins that season, going 22-7 with the last game an 84-64 loss to Farmingdale in Pomona, N.J., one step shy of the Elite Eight.
Even now, a decade and a half later, the season and the amazing rally at Middlebury is fresh on the minds of the players and coaches from that 2008-09 team.
"You can tell by the way they act when they get together now," said assistant coach Mike Donovan, "that they were a group that did something special."
After finishing second in the MASCAC, the Bears won the conference tourney title at top-seeded Salem State, 77-66, for the program's third berth in the NCAAs.
Bridgewater State opened the NCAAs with a 95-79 home win over St. Joseph's of Maine, then made the four-hour ride to Vermont to play a Middlebury team that was 24-3 overall and 13-0 at home.
The Panthers, who led most of the night, were up 71-65 with 2:37 to go. The Bears lost their two leading scorers, Millien and Judah Jackson, to fouls and were behind 74-69 as the clock ticked under 40 seconds.
That's when Stace Garrick, a transfer from UMass Lowell, hit his first of two clutch 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 74-72 with 37 seconds remaining.
Nicholas Motta then stole the ball and converted to tie the game, but Jamal Davis put Middlebury back in front at 76-74 with a basket.
Garrick then came through again, hitting another 3-pointer with a defender racing towards him to give the Bears a 77-76 lead with 17 seconds to play, and Motta added a foul shot with one second to go.
Just like that, Bridgewater State silenced a capacity crowd, ended Middlebury's season and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time ever.
Hall of Fame Head Coach Joe Farroba said he still calls the shooting hero of that night "Stace 'The Shot' Garrick."
"All my Bridgewater teammates still do, too, and I'm OK with it because it was a magical thing," said Garrick. "I was supposed to be there on that day for that to happen to have those memories. You can't write it up any better. Every time I see the Middlebury coach to this day, he is like, 'Stace, why did you have to do that?'"
Garrick, who finished with 21 points, still remembers how those long-distance shots unfolded.
"The first three I hit, I pump-faked the guy and he didn't jump," said Garrick. "I had to shoot it. I didn't use my left hand. It goes in. The second one felt good as soon as I let it go.
"Those were two of the best shots I ever hit in my life and I'll never forget them."
Matt McLaughlin, the Bears' point guard and now in his second year as the Bridgewater State head coach, recalls getting a ride in celebration as the game neared its completion.
"I remember jumping on Stace's back and he was walking around and I was like a backpack on him," said McLaughlin. "And the game was still going on with a free throw being shot. It was awesome."
The Bears found plenty of incentive that fired them up before and during the wild win over Middlebury.
After a practice in Vermont the day before the game, the Panthers gave the Bears' coaching staff a commemorative NCAA tourney basketball to bring home. That is usually done after a team is eliminated.
"We're in the huddle in the locker room before the game," said Donovan. "I've got the ball behind my back. Joe finishes his pregame speech and then says, 'Guys, by the way, the way it works, when you lose, they give you a ball to take home with you. I just want you to know the people from Middlebury gave me this ball yesterday to take home.'
"If the players could have run through walls after that, they would have."
When they got onto the court for warmups, there were less than two dozen people there rooting for the Bears. The rest of the overflow crowd was cheering loudly for the Panthers.
"We loved it," said McLaughlin. "We had like 20 fans from Bridgewater. Warming up, we were getting heckled and we loved it. We thought it was the best. It was something we thrived on."
Said Garrick: "There were students in the stands who had no shirts on. They had painted Middlebury on their bodies. That place was rocking. It was hard to hear."
Then, in the closing minutes with Millien and Jackson on the bench after fouling out and Middlebury holding their five-point lead, another incentive came the Bears' way.
"It was a five-point game with like 2:45 left," said Farroba. "There's a timeout and the guy on the PA announces, 'Please do not rush the court at the end of the game. Please stay in your seats.'
"We're in a huddle on the bench and Dunny was like, 'Did you hear that? They think they've got the game won.'"
Said Donovan: "Joe turned to the guys in the huddle and said, 'They don't know what we do. They don't know who we are.'"
Middlebury was about to find out as the Bears fought off elimination with a turnaround that transformed a loud gym into a quiet one.
"You should have seen the faces in the stands," said Garrick. "It was like somebody took the air out of the room."
"I have the DVD and I watch it," said Millien, who had 23 points that night. "When Stacey hit the shot and the crowd was yelling, it turned into stunned silence."
"We had done it a few times earlier in the year," said Motta of overcoming deficits. "We knew we could do it. When we did, it was completely silent. We were doing laps around the court. It was an incredible feeling."
In the locker room, the cell phones of the players and coaches were making noises as text messages came in from back home. The game had been streamed online and fans had watched the comeback unfold.
"I probably had 60 text messages, Stacey probably had 100-plus text messages," said Millien. "It was amazing."
Bridgewater State traveled to New Jersey the next weekend but had its season ended by Farmingdale.
The Bears trailed by five at the half, but a 17-5 run by the winners to open the second half ended the Bridgewater State bid.
Motta, Millien, McLaughlin, Jackson and Corey Connor comprised the starting lineup with Garrick, Anthony Goss, Corey Ryser, Chris Dijak, Cesar Oliveira and Deryk Largesse coming off the bench.
"It was pretty special," said Garrick of the season. "We had a good group of guys. Everybody bought in. We just had guys who wanted to win."
"Every time we all get together, we reminisce," said Millien. "When we do talk about that game, it's a lot of good memories."
"That team was special," said Motta. "It was a good time. That was the most competitive team I ever played on. We spent a lot of time together on and off the court. It was a special bond that we had."
Players from that team return to campus to watch the team that is now coached by McLaughlin. Alumni Day is Saturday afternoon, and the players who visit will surely think of the bond the 2008-09 squad has.
"You can go months, years without seeing any of them and as soon as you see them, you're back at school and there's hugs and jokes," said McLaughlin.