When the celebration ensued on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night, Saint Peter’s junior guard Doug Edert leapt onto the scorer’s table and, much like the late, great Kobe Bryant used to do, let out a primal roar to the raucous crowd.
But nobody else on the court seemed to notice.
Asked about the “Kobe-eqsue moment” after the Peacocks became the first 15 seed to ever reach the Elite Eight, teammates Matthew Lee and Daryl Banks III looked at each other with confusion, then to head coach Shaheen Holloway, who was just as puzzled.
“He jumped on the table?” they all asked each other while Edert broke out in nervous laughter.
“I found a little opening and people started moving stuff, so I don’t know. I was so excited,” Edert laughed. “Next question, next question.”
It was a fitting celebration for a legendary victory, as Saint Peter’s continued to defy the odds, now just one win away from a Final Four appearance after going from a widely unknown MAAC program to the story of the tournament. Edert has been a face of the Peacocks’ improbable run, and his celebration atop the scorer’s table will be a lasting image from the most memorable night in program history, even if most members of the program had no idea it happened.
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