R-O-A-R!
Lions end basketball season with 8-3 record
by Jeremy Meuser
MOSAIC, Summer 2007

Sacred Heart boasts of many things you would expect at a major seminary. You might not expect a basketball team would be among them.

The Sacred Heart Lions, coached by emeritus philosophy professor Fr. Paul Berg since the late 1950s, play around ten games per season. The team even has a mascot, a lion with a full mane, this year played by seminarian Pierre Konja.

Games are exciting house events, especially the Priests-Seminarians game, an annual event in January. This year featured Msgr. Jeffery Monforton as the first seminary rector to play in the game. However, his high office did not protect him from seminarian Steve Pullis, who stole the ball from him in the first moments of play and bolted down the court to score a two-point lay-up. The priests of Sacred Heart made a valiant attempt, but, in the end, the seminarians triumphed 58-54.

Adam Markham, seminarian, starting guard and team athletic director, reflected on the seminarian win: "The priests provided a challenging game, but the young legs prevailed."

Sacred Heart is not the only seminary to sport a basketball team. Each year during the winter semester, the Pontifical College Josephinum, a seminary in Columbus, Ohio, hosts a two-game elimination tournament for eight seminaries in the Midwest.

With a loss early in the series to the Josephinum College A team, the Lions were in a do-or-die position. Regulation time ended with a tie 30-30 score, and both teams went into a three-minute overtime. With eight seconds remaining, Nick Thompson inbounded the ball to Brian Buckley, who passed it to Markham at the three-point line. Markham launched a game-winning shot with .8 seconds left and the ecstatic Lions won 40-38. An unfortunate loss to the Josephinum College A team in the final round earned them second place in the tournament, but the memories carried the team for weeks.

The seminarians also saw a first annual event: the Maroon and White Scrimmage. In the words of Markham, "This is a game between the basketball team and the seminarians who think they can play basketball." The result was a profound victory by the Sacred Heart Lions. The Lions also face several local teams, such as the Sacred Heart security guards and the local FBI office. Even a team of alumni came back to their alma mater with friends to face the Lions!

The Lions recorded a well-earned 8-3 record. When asked about the season, Coach Berg, with a characteristic nod of affirmation, offered simply, "We did well."