By Jonah Bronstein
LEWISTON — Rob Garrison remembers scoring “30 or 40 points” the last time he played a basketball game at 8 a.m. He might be embellishing a bit however, since that was in the Niagara Falls Biddy League, at least a dozen years ago.
Garrison’s current team, the Niagara University Purple Eagles, woke up before sunrise today — assuming they ever went to sleep — to meet Drexel at the Gallagher Center. The game is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. as part of ESPN’s 24 Hours of Basketball promotion.
“To be invited to be part of that is pretty special,” Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. “Anytime you can be on national TV, you’ve got to do it.”
Mihalich didn’t put too much emphasis on the start time for today’s game. The Purple Eagles had a short practice Monday that wrapped up around 3:30 p.m. and spent the night at a local hotel. But otherwise, it’s just wake up early and be on the floor an hour before tip-off.
“If we practice in the morning, our guys don’t get up four hours before and eat spaghetti,” he said. “We’re just going to try and rely on the adrenaline to be ready.”
“It’s basketball,” Garrison said. “I wake up for basketball at five, six o’clock.”
It might be more of an adjustment for those attending the game. Some 8 a.m. classes at Niagara have been canceled, but fans are still advised to arrive early to ensure a parking spot.
Former Niagara coach Frank Layden has been involved in basketball for more than 50 years and has never seen a game start so early.
“I played in this gym,” Layden said after Monday’s practice, “and I’m afraid if they would’ve done that, I’d miss the game.”
But Layden isn’t worried about the Purple Eagles being ready to play today.
“You have to remember it’s the same for the other team,” he said. “And I don’t worry about Joe. He’s a smart coach.”
The Purple Eagles are coming off a 69-65 loss at Auburn in their season opener Friday night. Niagara, which led by seven with less than two minutes to go, shot 10 free throws in the game, while Auburn was awarded 30.
“I think everybody was thinking it was the refs, but it wasn’t,” said Bilal Benn, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds. “We take full responsibility for it as players. The coaches laid it out for us on the tape. We made a lot of mental mistakes. We made some crucial turnovers when we were up by four. We know we have to get better.”
Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.
GAME DAY
Niagara (0-1) vs. Drexel (0-1)
• WHEN: 8 a.m.
• WHERE: Gallagher Center
• RADIO: WWKB 1520
• TV: ESPN
• ONLINE: Live stats and audio available at PurpleEagles.com
