Archdeacon: A ‘full-circle moment’ for longtime friends and coaches

With 63 seconds left in what had become a tooth-and-nail finish at UD Arena on Sunday afternoon, play had been halted as the referees reviewed video to see if their last call had been correct — it was — and the desperation shot of DaRon Holmes II, Dayton’s big man, had missed the rim and the shot clock had expired.

The Flyers 14-point lead had evaporated and now UMass — down by just two points — would be getting the ball back.

As the referees huddled and the sold-out crowd — which included over two dozen former Miami Senior High players, friends and guys from the neighborhood who were tied to both Martin and UD coach Anthony Grant — stood and anxiously awaited the outcome of the call, Martin suddenly found himself elsewhere.

“As the refs were looking to see if the ball had hit the rim, we came out on the court and I looked over and saw (Anthony) sitting on the bench,” Martin would say afterward, his eyes filled with tears and his voice breaking.

“I couldn’t figure out in that moment, what would make me feel worse: Whether we made a shot or missed a shot.”

Martin wanted his young team to win, but he didn’t want his best friend to lose.

In those final 63 seconds, UMass would hit a three-point shot, but Dayton would make five free throws and end up winning 64-60.

After the game, Grant admitted he has similar feelings toward Martin:

“I root for UMass to win every night, every game they play. And if I have a chance to watch them, I watch.

“On days like this, one of us is going to walk away disappointed. And each of us is going to be disappointed that our friend lost.”

That’s how deep the bond is between Grant and Martin who first met when they were 14 years old and sat down next to each other in an English class at Miami Senior High in the heart of the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida.

Since then their lives, their careers and their families have been linked.

As very young coaches they once sat together on the bench of their former coach and lifetime mentor, the late Shakey Rodriguez. His lessons and passion became theirs and they both thought of him after Sunday’s game.

“Shakey’s presence was in the building today,” Martin said.

“Shakey was looking down smiling,” Grant said.

Everywhere you looked there was a Miami connection that bound the coaches together.

Sitting behind the UD bench was Devin Davis, who had played for Martin when he coached Miami Senior to three state titles. Davis went on to a Hall of Fame career with the Miami RedHawks in Oxford and later was on Grant’s staff here at Dayton.

Two of Martin’s former stars in high school — Allen and Doug Edwards — are now UMass assistants. Before that, Allen had been Grant’s assistant at VCU.

Another UMass assistant, Brett Nelson, played for Grant when he was an assistant at Florida.

And then there were all the Miami Senior guys in the stands who came in f0r this game.,

“I’ll be truthful, I didn’t sleep last night,” Martin said. “All these guys from Miami came to our shoot around and when I finally got back to the hotel, I just started thinking about how they’ve been part of both our lives a long time.

“I started reminiscing about Anthony and me, thinking about our journey, where we’ve come from and what we’ve both been able to accomplish as men.”

Grant would later agree; “This was a full circle moment.”

‘He’s all class’

Grant was the star of his Miami Senior team. Martin was more of a glorified manager whose playing time was limited.

Regardless, the two connected and as Grant headed to Dayton to play for Don Donoher, Martin stayed home for college.

“The first paper I wrote in college was about him,” Martin said Sunday.

He talked to me about that some 20 years ago when he was an assistant to Bob Huggins at Cincinnati:

“The assignment was to write about a person in life we admired. Anthony cared about people. He cared about his school and his friends. He walked in the hallways and the teachers and the students respected him.”

Years later Martin made Grant the godfather of his oldest son Brandon.

Once they left high school coaching, both Grant and Martin rose gloriously in the coaching ranks, but — as is so often the nature of the college game — both also had their fates turn and not always fairly.

Grant was eventually fired at Alabama and Martin — after much success and a Final Four — suffered the same fate at South Carolina.

“(Anthony) won in the SEC, but that university and that league tried to break him as a human being and it was a shame,” Martin said. “He’s all class.

“The challenges he’s gone through as a human being and to have the courage and character to be so strong, he’s such a class individual. I’m lucky to have someone like that in my life.”

‘That’s what life’s all about’

After the game, both Martin and Grant praised the other’s coaching job this year.

Dayton is now 12-2 and UMass is 10-4.

This was the seventh time the two men have met as head coaches and Martin has a 4-3 advantage,

When the game ended the old friends met near midcourt on the sideline and embraced for a long time.

As Martin then made his way through the line of UD players, he knew what awaited him.

Looking at the UD roster a few days ago, he had spotted Grant’s youngest son, Makai, was a freshman walk-on and said “I coul;dn’t wait to hug him.”

And that’s just what he did.

He patted him on the head and embraced him and for a couple seconds just held on tightly.

“Seeing Makai and that big smile on his face when we hugged, that’s what life’s all about,” Martin said, his emotions welled up again.

“That’s what life’s all about.”