Hodge: My top 5 St. Andrews games of the 2022-23 season

Jun. 24—A lot of people around Scotland County have a craving for attending athletic events but seem to forget about St. Andrews University and its athletic programs.

At the end of the day though, college sports are still college sports to me, and there will be some really entertaining games to attend. I wasn't able to make all of them but I was able to cover a solid amount of St. Andrews sporting events and get to see some incredible action this past season.

So, I decided to choose my top five St. Andrews games that I covered (or watched) throughout the 2022-23 season and make a chronological list of them while explaining why they were my choices. Several games could have made this list but these are my personal favorites because of my experiences at them and how memorable they were to me.

Football — Union at St. Andrews (Oct. 8)

The Knights came into this game 0-5 under head coach Bob Curtin's first season with the program but were able to secure Curtin's first win as a college football head coach with a 27-26 last-minute finish.

With just under two minutes left in the game, St. Andrews quarterback Andrew Fowler put the Knights in front 27-20 with a rushing touchdown the Union Bulldogs followed by the ensuing extra point. But after the Knights kicked off, the Union Bulldogs, who were also winless at the time, scored in just two plays to make it 27-26. A two-point conversion attempt would end up being no good after quarterback Myron Norfleet was off-target on a pass to his running back.

An onside kick moments later would go out-of-bounds, which gave St. Andrews the ball to go into victory formation.

I honestly can't remember much from the celebration on the sideline from this game, as I had to head to the locker room area for my postgame interviews. But while interviewing Curtin, I do remember him saying he was going to celebrate by having a Dr. Pepper Cream Soda — for some reason, that has always replayed in my mind whenever I think about this game.

It was St. Andrews' only win of the season, but it won't be the game itself I remember most from that, it'll be that quote from Curtin.

Men's basketball — Tennessee Wesleyan at St. Andrews (Jan. 14)

If there was a game this season at St. Andrews that left me speechless, it was this one.

With the Knights coming into the game with a 1-14 record and the Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs holding an 11-3 mark, it seemed the odds were stacked against St. Andrews this one. Yet, despite trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, the Knights led 43-37 at the half, thanks to a 19-0 run that spanned over six minutes of game time.

In the second half, the Knights built their lead up to 10 before Tennessee Wesleyan tied it up at 54-all with just over 11 1/2 minutes remaining. The Knights, then, retook the lead and went up by 15 with 6:37 left in the game — but the Bulldogs managed to bring their deficit to two points at 76-74 with 43 seconds to go. But St. Andrews was able to get the win after the Bulldogs missed two 3-point attempts with under 10 seconds left in the game.

I can't recall another basketball game from this past year where I changed who I thought was going to win as much as this one. When it felt like the Bulldogs were building too much momentum, the Knights kept battling, and when the same happened for St. Andrews, Tennessee Wesleyan managed to fight back. But free throws were the biggest difference in the result of this one, with the Knights going 23 of 27 from the line and the Bulldogs finishing 10 of 16.

It was the second loudest I had heard Harris Court last season, with the loudest game being the next one on this list.

Men's basketball — Columbia International at St. Andrews (Jan. 25)

This is the only game on this list where the final result saw St. Andrews come up short but it just couldn't not be on here.

At the halftime break, the Columbia International Rams were ahead 45-36 against the Knights and took their lead up to 12 at one point with 13:09 remaining in the second half. But St. Andrews eventually clawed their way back into the game and was only down 81-74 with 1:33 to go. Back-to-back layups, which included a 3-point play, by the Knights' Garrett McRae made it an 81-79 game with 18 seconds left. After the Knights received possession again, they called a timeout with 1.9 seconds remaining and had one shot to tie or win the game.

Brodie Clark was who the St. Andrews coaching staff wanted to take the final shot; however, his shot was short as time expired.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Knights and one that was filled with frustration for players, coaches, and fans but the team fought hard to come back, which is all that Knights head coach Randy Hernandez said he cared about during his postgame interview. The gym was the loudest I've heard it all season and the bleachers were packed with the most students and fans I've seen in there, which wasn't typical for a Wednesday night game.

And even though the Knights couldn't complete their comeback attempt, that crowd helped spark the run late in the second half that gave them the chance to do so.

Women's basketball — Reinhardt at St. Andrews (Jan. 28)

Despite learning that they'd have only eight players available for the rest of the season two weeks before this game, the St. Andrews women's basketball team defied all odds against the Reinhardt Eagles, who were 16-6 overall heading into this one — and did it with only six players.

With two players not able to play in the game, the Lady Knights were still able to rally their way to a 62-50 win against the Eagles for what would be their final victory of the season.

The most notable stat of this game was the shooting percentage of Reinhardt, as they went just 29.5% from the field and missed all 13 of their 3-point attempts. For six players to have that much energy and effort for 40 minutes to defend that well is mind-boggling; some NCAA Division I programs couldn't even get that out of their players.

I didn't know until afterward that the Lady Knights had only six players available for the game, which made this upset that much more considerable.

If a sports program ever needed a boost of confidence in themselves, there may not be a better performance worth talking about than this one.

Baseball — Bluefield (Va.) at St. Andrews (April 16)

So, I wasn't able to make this game in person but I was able to watch the ending of it on the St. Andrews University Baseball Facebook page — and I was very happy I did so.

With the score knotted up at 6-6 after the ninth inning, the game went into extra innings, where Joshua Benfield, an American Baseball Coaches Association NAIA All-American in 2022, would nail a solo homer to center field to walk it off for the Knights in the bottom of the 10th.

The ending couldn't have been drawn up any better, as it looked like the Knights were going to pull off the win after a two-run seventh put them ahead 6-5 until a home run from Bluefield's Johnny Medina tied the game in the eighth inning.

While I didn't get to catch all of it, I caught the best part, which made this one worthy of making this list.