Ten years ago today, the Saint Joseph's men's basketball team made history. On March 2, 2004, second-ranked Saint Joseph's defeated St. Bonaventure, 82-50, in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, to finish the regular season with a perfect 27-0 record.
The atmosphere was electric that night on Hawk Hill. Fans lined up outside, two television broadcast crews, and overflow media from around the nation came to witness college basketball history.
It was also “Senior Night” and Jameer Nelson, Tyrone Barley, Brian Jesiolowski, Rob Hartshorn were honored prior to their last game on Hawk Hill. It had also been announced that Nelson's number 14 would be retired, but the star guard announced after the game that he wanted to defer it, because he had “more games to play”.
The outcome of the game was never in question, with the Hawks running out to a 47-27 lead by halftime. Nelson and Delonte West led the way, as they did for much of the season, with 25 points and 15 points, respectively.
The Hawks held a post-game ceremony to celebrate and March 2nd will be remembered as just one of many special moments in that 2003-04 season, which will forever live on in college basketball and Saint Joseph's history.
