'It was awesome': St. Peter basketball player with Down Syndrome scores first points on Senior Day
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnehaha Academy beat St. Peter 95-66 in boys basketball on Saturday, but it will go down as one of the few days where nobody will remember the final score.
It was a day for Saints’ guard Mason Doherty. It was a day St. Peter honored its seniors, and Doherty, a senior guard, got an experience he’ll take with him the rest of his life. Redhawks players not only got to witness the moment, but shared in the celebration.
Doherty, who has Down Syndrome, hadn’t scored a single point on the varsity team. That is, until Saturday. He got in the game in the second half, and after several shot attempts and some help from the Redhawks, finally got a 3-pointer to go in. The gym erupted as the moment was caught on cell phones by the hundreds in attendance.
Redhawks’ senior guard Jalen Suggs, one of the top players in the country, reflected on Doherty’s big moment Monday night as he was being honored for his selection to the McDonald’s All-American Game.
“It shows the power of sports. I mean this, the McDonald’s All-American Game, it’s huge for me but for that kid and that community, I can’t ask for nothing better than that. To be there personally, not going to lie, that’s high up on my sports moments that I’ve experienced in my young 18 years of life,” Suggs said. “To see how happy he was and how happy the entire building was, it was just a great atmosphere, a great vibe in there, and to MVP Mason, that was a great shot man.”
Doherty wasn’t done. After getting a steal from Minnehaha guard Sam Gonzalez, Doherty hit a shot from the baseline at the buzzer. Saints and Redhawks’ players combined rushed the floor to celebrate with Doherty as if he had just hit a game-winning shot.
The Saints didn’t win the game, but that didn’t really matter. Sportsmanship won on Saturday. Minnehaha Academy coach Lance Johnson said Monday it was “one of the most enjoyable basketball events of my entire life.”
“It was awesome. I want to give a shout-out to one of our players, Sam Gonzalez, he was the one that initially got the first rebound and kept feeding this young man. I think it took him 10 or 11 shots and then he hit one. Then Sam allowed him to steal the basketball and then he drove in for a last second shot and the place went nuts. It really is what life is all about,” Johnson said.
The moment was captured by “Overtime” on Twitter, and eventually made its way to ESPN.
For one day, a small town and a small school in Minneapolis came together to celebrate a moment Doherty will likely never forget.
“Just to see how you can take two different communities, one from the city, and one from about an hour out, just how we all come together as one over his accomplishment, his two baskets, it was great to see,” Suggs said. “Honestly it put a big smile on my face, I couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night.”
“It says a lot for the young man. He had both teams celebrating and jumping around at the same time. So we’d like to thank Mason for that moment for us too,” Johnson said.