Commentary
By Tom Archdeacon
DAYTON DAILY NEWS
He was talking about his last-seconds shot in overtime that won the Division II state title for the Knights, sealed his selection as the tournament's Most Valuable Player and forever would make him one of the enduring legends of Alter High basketball lore.
On a team that really deserves the old moniker Cardiac Kids--Saturday's 49-47 victory over Philo gave Alter its fourth straight tournament win in overtime--Waleskowski is the heart of the squad. All season the 6-foot-9 senior center was the leader on the court and in the dressing room, and Friday, with the game on the line, he was the guy coach Joe Petrocelli and the Knights called on to save the day.
Alter--down by seven points with 2:46 left in the game--tied the score at the end of regulation on a desperation three-point shot by guard Mark Borland. Both teams had gone scoreless in overtime and with 19 seconds left, Petrocelli called a timeout.
"During that timeout, as soon as I heard coach say we'd run the clock down and that the ball should come into me with about eight seconds left, I just said, `OK ... good,'" Waleskowski said. "Right away, I just started trying to put into my head how I'd get the ball to the hole. The whole game the shots wouldn't fall for me and I'd been frustrated. But now I knew I had to rise above that."
As he trotted onto the court, he said he made sure to touch the strip of black electrical tape he had wrapped around the right strap of his jersey. That's how the whole team was commemorating Kurt Murnen, who had led the Knights to the 1996 state tournament and died from cancer three weeks ago.
"When I joined this team, Kurt took me under his wing like a big brother," Waleskowski said. "Now that he's gone, I was hoping he'd still be there for me. All of us believe he's been there for us in all these overtime games and we really needed something again."
Whether Murnen was on the heavenly end no one knows for sure, but for the here-and-now, it was all Waleskowski, who stationed himself about 12 feet from the hoop and with Philo's 6-foot-6 Chris Ballenger behind him, got the ball from Borland with five seconds left.
With one dribble, Waleskowski used his patented drop step and let loose a soft left-handed shot--a half hook, half turn-around jumper that he practices all the time in warmups--and that produced an inner scream:
"Oh no, it's short!"
"I really believed it was two soft," Waleskowski said. "It bounced once, then again and I kept yelling, `Fall ... Fall ... Fall!' The ball seemed frozen. It was like time had stopped and it seemed like an eternity before it rattled in. And that's when I got the greatest feeling in the world."
Up in the stands--among the 16,442 screaming fans--Keith's dad, Pete Waleskowski said, "My heart just stopped."
On the Philo bench, the Electrics coach, Todd Van Reeth, felt about the same: "We knew they'd go to him for the last shot and we'd tried to keep it out of his hands. But he got loose and when he let that big soft hook go, I just knew. With a team that's had this kind of luck, that ball was going to find a way to go in."
Even so, Waleskowski needed one more heroic effort. With time stopped and 1.1 second remaining, Philo inbounded the ball with a long pass to 6-foot-5 Pat Rush, who already had 21 points. As Rush let loose a 3-pointer that was in his range, Waleskowski leaped up and deflected it off his fingertips. With those last two plays, his 17 points and eight rebounds--as well as 23 points and nine rebounds in the semifinal victory over Columbus Beechcroft in overtime--Waleskowski, who's headed to the University of Dayton next season, was the obvious MVP.
Afterward, Petrocelli--who now had his second title in six trips to the state tournament--said this championship was sweeter than the 1978 crown.
"This is better," he said. "No way you win four overtime games in a row, but this team, just keeps coming back and back and back. When Jimmy Cagney said, `I'm on top of the world, Ma!' Well, this is the top of the world."
And no one stood higher--literally and figuratively--than Waleskowski. He's not only the Knights tallest player--an inch above sophomore brother Adam--he was the player everyone flocked to at game's end. Teammate Matt Swanson dove into his arms, as did Borland and that's when the Knights big man melted to the court under their weight.
"Right now, this is the greatest moment of my life," Waleskowski said as he made his way off the court to hug and kiss his parents, then acknowledge the cheers of his rowdy buddies, who were in the front row of seats just beyond the Alter basket.
After lifting the championship trophy above him and showing it to the crowd, Waleskowski finally climbed the step ladder to help cut down the championship net.
First though, he snipped off pieces of cord and handed them down to each smiling cheerleader.
"Check it out," yelled a buddy, "Keith's a ladies' man now."
Waleskowski laughed and nodded. And sure enough, when he'd get back home, he said he was heading to school for the "Turn-About Dance."
Did he have a date?
"Yep," he beamed. "On a night like this, you just couldn't walk in stag."
