Rich Hofmann: Hawks' seniors finally win the war

AS DAY TURNED into night yesterday, as another hot appointment in the old gym beckoned, the thought had to have entered the heads of Pat Calathes and Rob Ferguson, at least fleetingly. This was going to be the last chance for the two seniors who start for the Saint Joseph's Hawks, their last swing in a rivalry played with bludgeons, their last chance to beat Villanova.

Three games, three losses - and two of them were merciless maulings. That was the St. Joe-Villanova line on the resumes of Calathes and Ferguson, the old men on a resurgent team. It is the line that everyone's eyes find on a page full of type - everyone who has lived or loved or just watched this rivalry over the years. You measure yourself in a dozen different ways as a

college basketball player, but this is one of the most meaningful for these particular players on these particular teams.

And now, there is a line that reads like this:

St. Joseph's 77, Villanova 55.

And Pat Calathes said, "To be embarrassed the last 2 years and then to come out and play like that, it's perfect. To end my career against 'Nova like that, it's perfect."

There could be no argument. It was played in a special cauldron, witnessed by a passionate red mob, and almost never in doubt. It remains a scene that you need to witness to understand. And even though these teams take turns these days holding the decided advantage, it remains an outrageous piece of this city's sporting legacy, even when the games are not close, even when one of the teams is struggling to find an identity and might struggle its way out of a chance to play in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden if it isn't careful.

"I didn't really know anything about this game until I played it for the first time," said Ferguson, a Florida native. "I had no idea about the atmosphere.

"It's just the fans. It's all about the fans. So many people come to see 10 people play on a court. This is an atmosphere. This is a basketball atmosphere - that's it."

Ferguson had 20 points against the Wildcats and so did Calathes. In their dreams, this must have been how it went.

The Palestra was sold out and

exhaustingly hot and painfully loud at time. The rollouts from the St. Joe's kids were plentiful, if only occasionally funny.

Like: "Even Tim Donaghy bet on SJU."

And: "Nova Diet . . . No MSG."

And: "What Big 5 Means on the Main Line . . . 5 Straight Losses."