STANDISH — There’s team chemistry. And then there’s what drives the Saint Joseph’s College men’s basketball team.
Some of the players were high school teammates. Some were childhood best friends. Two were born less than a week apart in the same hospital.
Teams love to point to their togetherness as a reason for their success. But few can boast to having the bonds the Monks do, which extend well beyond college and have helped power the team to a 24-4 record, its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship since 2009, and a matchup Friday at Tufts University against the University of Redlands in the NCAA Division III tournament.
“Our coach yells at us to communicate, communicate,” freshman guard Silvano Ismail said. “But we think like we already know what the other person is going to do before it happens.”
They’ve been honing it for years. Remijo Wani, Pitia Donato, Jeissey Khamis and Kevin Rugabirwa played together at Portland High. Teagan Hynes and John Paul Frazier were teammates at York. NeAri Vasquez and Derek Salvatore played at Johnston Senior High School in Rhode Island.
Eight players — Ismail, Wani, both Donatos, Khamis and Rugabirwa, as well as Braden Camire and Tong Maiwen — played AAU together for XLP, coached by Saint Joseph’s assistant Mike Harmon.
There are even national bonds on the team. Wani, Ismail, Khamis, Maiwen and the Donatos are children of South Sudanese immigrants and have known each other since they first started dribbling a basketball — if not earlier.
“It’s not very often you have guys that all grew up together (that are) playing together in college,” coach Tyler Ackley said. “Being family couldn’t make us any closer. I think a lot of teams say that, but I think we certainly are that. I think we are as tight-knit as you could possibly be.”
That familiarity, the players say, has translated in the games.
“We have a really strong, inter-connected group. That helps us go on the court,” said Frazier, a junior guard. “I’ve grown up playing with Teagan my whole life, we have a good connection, and then Vano and a bunch of the XLP guys, they’ve been playing together for a really long time. It’s fun. You get to play with all your best friends, and it definitely helps on the court with chemistry.”
In some cases, they’re lifelong bonds. Ismail and Wani are second cousins, and were born at Maine Medical Center four days apart. Ismail’s mother, Bakhita Saabino, knew Pitia and Wani Donato’s parents after moving to the United States in 2002, and knew Khamis’ parents before they had children.
Growing up in Portland’s South Sudanese community meant spending a lot of time together, Saabino said. The kids went to birthday parties together, attended church together, and celebrated Christmases and Easters together.
“We’d all gather and support each other,” Saabino said. “This is how we were well-connected.”
After the GNAC final victory over Lasell, they posed for a picture with a South Sudanese flag provided by Saabino as a tribute to their roots.
“I am just so proud of them, being a South Sudanese mother and a South Sudanese person,” Saabino said. “I’m so happy for them.”
Basketball, though, could turn friends into rivals. They played AAU together, but in high school, Ismail played for Cheverus and Maiwen played at Edward Little, while Wani started at Deering before switching to Portland, where Rugabirwa, a son of Congolese immigrants, was playing alongside the Donato brothers and Khamis.
As college approached, they were eager to team up again.
“We were just waiting for someone to make the first move,” said Wani, a sophomore forward averaging a team-high 18.3 points, “and then we were like ‘Ah, we’re all going.'”
Deep ties, combined with a high-level of talent, has led to an exciting brand of basketball. Saint Joseph’s is fifth in the country in scoring at 92.1 points per game. The Monks zip the ball around, evidenced by 22.7 assists per contest, second-best in the country.
“It feels like AAU, honestly,” Wani said. “It feels like we know where everyone is going to be. … I know Wani and Silvano like to go downhill, and they know I like to shoot the ball. It’s a good feeling to have guys like that that know how I play, and I know how they play. It helps us help each other.”
It’s not always smooth.
“We function like a family,” Ackley said. “We have good days, bad days, we have fun, we argue, we fight, we bicker. We have all the emotions you could have in a family.”
It’s provided the Monks with an unshakable foundation. When the team has been tested, the cohesiveness has held up. When Saint Joseph’s trailed Lasell by nine points in the GNAC final, that trust prevailed.
“When things don’t go our way, we don’t waver,” Ackley said. “We don’t really fracture. If things start going bad, we just kind of have a quick huddle, we refocus, and we’re locked back in.”
“It’s been special, and for me, I could have never imagined three or four years ago that this is where it would get to. But I’m glad it has.”
