DePaul was sputtering, struggling and stuck in a rut as it trailed in its Saturday game with Indiana State with about 10 minutes remaining. Like an engine with a misfiring sparkplug, it was just getting along and unable to impose its will on the surprising Sycamores.
But then, with his team down by three points, Blue Demons freshman point guard Sammy Mejia re-entered the game and all that suddenly changed. He had performed lethargically earlier, missing his only two field-goal attempts, but immediately upon his return he buried a three-pointer from the left wing.
After scoring only three points while handing out 15 assists in DePaul’s first two games this season, he had been encouraged to look harder for his shot, and now he did that again from the right wing. This time he dropped a 12-footer to put the Demons up by two, and for good, in their 78-66 victory. They will meet Michigan State, which beat Penn 77-52, Sunday in the final of the Spartan Classic.
“He had one basket in two games, and I think he’s a better offensive player than that,” Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao said of Mejia. “He plays offense better than that in practice, but I think he has been concerning himself so much with taking care of the team that he forgot that he had options for himself. He’s going to have to try to stretch out the defense.”
Mejia admitted as much.
“For the last few days they’ve been telling me to look for my shot, but I really don’t try to get out there and force shots,” Mejia said. “But after having that [bad] first half, I said I was going to take what the defense gave me. I wasn’t going to put my head down. They gave me open shots, and I took them.”
Quemont Greer led the Demons (3-0) with a team-high 18 points, Delonte Holland chipped in 16 and Andre Brown posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. But the Sycamores (1-1), who ended with 10 three-pointers on 21 attempts, still led through much of the game’s first 30 minutes and seemed on their way to an upset.
But then DePaul’s defense stiffened, denied Indiana State driving lanes and kept its guards from penetrating. That was one adjustment that propelled the Demons to their victory. But their true catalyst was Mejia (11 points), who hit a second three at 6:45 to put them up by four.
DePaul, while breaking this one open, scored on 12 straight possessions to turn a six-point deficit into a nine-point lead. Mejia, no longer a reluctant freshman, scored nine points in that run and handed out an assist as well.
“When he hit those two big threes,” Leitao said, “it made him believe in himself a little more and made the four guys around him say, `Welcome to the party.'”
Now, on Sunday, they get to party with Michigan State at the Breslin Center, where the 2-1 Spartans have won 75 of their last 79 regular-season games.
Still, Mejia said, “It’s an opportunity. It’s something we’ve all been waiting for. It’s something we talk about consistently at practice, how good we think we are.
“[Sunday] is that first step of us having that opportunity to prove to people that we are pretty good, that we can be competitive no matter who we face.”
