McGonagill’s Heroics Lift Brown Over Columbia

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

If I hadn’t been there and seen it for myself, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. Friday night at Brown’s Pizzatola Sports Center, Bears’ freshman guard Sean McGonagill put on one of the gutsiest and amazing performances you’ll ever see on a basketball court.

To understand how incredible it really was, you have to understand what had happened in the 48 hours leading up to Friday night’s game between Brown and Columbia.

At practice, McGonagill was diving for a loose ball when his face crashed into the knee of teammate Dockery Walker. The results were gruesome. McGonagill tore his lip which required about 25 stitches and plastic surgery. Three of his teeth were knocked in and will likely need replacing. Teammates say they have never seen as much blood on the floor as they saw that Wednesday.

Initially, McGonagill was told he may not want to do anything basketball related for up to 4 weeks. That didn’t sit well with the freshman who went out the next day to get fitted for a Hannibal Lecter-like mask to play. The surgeon said that he could play Friday night if the mask covered his surgically repaired lip. That was all he needed to hear.

McGonagill was in the starting line-up against Columbia but you had to wonder if the normally aggressive playing guard might be a bit timid because of the injury. Fat chance!

McGonagill dazzled the crowd of 1,124 fans who were in the arena by scoring a Brown freshman record-tying 39 points. He also dished out 6 assists and pulled down 4 rebounds.

McGonagill (15-19 FG, 3-4 3 PT FG, 6-8 FT) scored in every imaginable way. He knocked down three 3-pointers, hit 18-foot jumpers with regularity, made driving lay-ups and had a crowd-pleasing left-handed drive and score late in the game that put Brown on top 69-67.

His 39 points tied the freshman record set by Brown’s all-time leading scorer Earl Hunt who netted 39 as a frosh against the Harvard Crimson. It is the sixth highest single-game performance in Brown basketball history tying, among others, Hunt and Damon Huffman who had 39 as a senior in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament at Ohio University.

McGonagill’s mother drove to Providence from Chicago to watch her son play and she could not have been more pleased with the results. Head coach Jesse Agel said after the game, "it was an epic performance that he and everyone else who was lucky enough to be here to witness will remember for the rest of their life."

It was the first Ivy League win for the Bears this season who improved to (8-11, 1-4 Ivy). And, despite McGonagill’s heroics, it was truly a team effort.

Adrian Williams followed up his 22-point performance at Penn last Saturday with 20 points against the Lions Friday night. Dockery Walker had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Among his 13 points was another highlight dunk by the freshman. Senior Garrett Leffelman finished the game with only 3 points and 4 rebounds but played outstanding on the defensive end of the floor as he has all season.

After shutting down Penn’s Zack Rosen last weekend, Leffelman limited the Ivy League’s leading scorer Noruwa Agho to just 6 points on (3-12) shooting. Agho came into the game averaging 17 points per game.

Next up for Brown is 3-time defending Ivy League Champion Cornell tonight at the Pizzatola Sports Center. Game time is 6pm.