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Top 10 Philly Sports Moments of 2009, #3 The Reynolds Run

By Kyle Scott

Published: Dec 30th, 2009 · 11:23 AM EST

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 No Philly team had made the Final Four since 1985.  In ’04, Jameer Nelson and his Hawks came oh
so close, on a last second drive that came up inches short.  In ’06, the #1 seeded Wildcats were cast
aside by eventual national champion, Florida. 
Three years later, Philly hoops fans would get their piece of the pie.

5.5 seconds remaining, tie game.  Reggie Redding looked to inbound the ball, he
couldn’t find his intended target, Scottie Reynolds.  He stopped himself short of calling a timeout,
a timeout that the Wildcats did not have, and that would have sent Pitt to the
line, essentially handing them the game. 
At the last second, senior Dane Cunningham put his hand in the air, Reggie
slung the ball towards Cunningham’s open palm. 
The rest, is history.

I graduated from Villanova, and was in attendance for this
classic.  When the basket fell, and the
red light went on, there was a 15 second window of jubilation as I sprinted,
screamed, leaped, and chest bumped my way across the upper suite level of the
TD Banknorth Garden.  A brief period of unconscious
that I came out of like Will Ferrell’s character in Old School, “what just
happened?”.  The Wildcats had done it
(after a too-close-for-comfort last chance heave by Pitt’s Levance Fields),
they were going to the Final Four.

It was a play that would be remembered as the signature of
an entire tournament.  6 foot nothing
Scottie Reynolds, running to the basket, dropping a shot that ended a 24 year Final
Four drought for Philly hoops.