TRIUMPHANT RETURN FOR ARLINGTON BASKETBALL’S MCNAMARA
By Jim Baldwin
Cambridge, MA. 2/22/19. The headline would read, “McNamara’s Buzzer Beater Stuns MIT 55-53.”
Arlington’s own Colin McNamara, two time Middlesex League MVP at Arlington High School, now a sophomore point guard at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, better known as WPI, is in the midst of a triumphant return engagement to his home stomping grounds.
Last night at MIT in the semi-finals of the NEWMAC Tournament, his team led the Engineers, owners of a gaudy 22-3 record, the top seed in the tournament and ranked seventh in Division 3 nationally, by an unlikely 18 points at halftime.
Mid-way through the second half MIT started to play like their ranking and a 27 – 8 run brought them all the way back. Their talented point guard A J Jurko (a strong contender for the all-name team) hit a three pointer that bounced high off the back rim before dropping through to tie the game at 53 with 17 seconds left.
Dramatic as it was, it served only to set the stage for McNamara.
“It was crazy that he got that bounce,” McNamara said after the game. “But, in the time out I wasn’t nervous. The team wasn’t nervous. We knew that either we would win or the game would go into overtime. We were ready to seal the deal.”
The sophomore, who led his team with 13 points and four assists on the night, took the inbounds pass and moved deliberately up-court before pausing above and to the left of the circle. As the clock ticked down it became clear that he had made the decision.
“I decided right when I got the ball, ‘I gotta take this.’ I really felt that there was nobody on the court who could guard me,” the sophomore said.
Indeed, MIT had difficulty all night keeping him from the rim and this occasion looked no different. He started a drive to his left, crossed over to his right heading for the rim and setting up his right hand. He stopped suddenly at the foul line and rose high for a jumper. The ball settled through touching only net as the buzzer sounded.
“I’ve been working on those situations since I’ve been a kid,” McNamara said. “It’s ingrained in me. I’ve been in the gym counting down five, four, three I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve done that in my head. So I wanted it. I wanted the shot. Thank goodness it went in.”
Colin McNamara and grandmother after upset win at MIT
The roars and floor flooding that followed were evidence of the home game atmosphere for the visitors. A load of students came from WPI along with their pep band. And there was a large contingent of Arlington folks as well, McNamara’s high school coach John Bowler among them.
Asked if all this didn’t look familiar to him Bowler laughed, “Well I didn’t know he was gonna make the shot, but I knew he wasn’t gonna pass it.”
McNamara smiled, “It definitely sounded like a home game to us. We had a fan bus, the football team, whenever the band is there, it feels like a home game. It felt like Arlington High packing the gym for a play-off game. I felt like I was back playing in Arlington honestly.”
Two nights prior, McNamara had started his return trip with a 20-point, five assist, four steal performance in Wellesley in a quarterfinal win over Babson in which he hit a key three pointer late to ice it.
Successful as he’s been, McNamara has to struggle for bragging rights in his own household.
His older sister Maeve, senior co-captain and point guard for the Amherst College Mammoths, led her club to the NCAA division 3 national championship last March. Her team is poised for another run this year at 23-2 and ranked fourth in the nation.
Maeve McNamara in action at Amherst
And his younger brother, Brendan, a sophomore point guard at Arlington High, led his team in scoring this year and was named a Middlesex League All-star.
It is high time someone checked the water in that household.
They do have a major scheduling problem though. On Saturday, Maeve leads her second seeded Amherst team in a NESCAC tournament semi-final against Tufts at Bowdoin at 4pm, while Colin and WPI play for the NEWMAC title at Emerson the same day at 1.
Can they get from Boston to Bowdoin in an hour or so? Maybe if Brendan drives…
Here’s a link to the game winning shot.