Duquesne coach: No one to blame for team being stranded on turnpike
There's no reason to second-guess the decisions that stranded the Duquesne men's basketball team on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for almost 24 hours, coach Jim Ferry said Saturday night.
The team returned to campus shortly before 11 p.m., almost 30 1⁄2 hours after leaving Fairfax, Va., following a game against George Mason and being stuck in the snowstorm that engulfed the East Coast.
“Home sweet home,” the team wrote on its official Twitter account (@DuqMBB).
At about 8 p.m., the Dukes' bus finally began moving after having stopped between the Somerset and Breezewood exits about 9:15 p.m. Friday when an accident ahead of them caused by inclement weather brought traffic to a halt.
“We're 80 miles from campus, and it was an accident at 9:15 p.m. when the snow wasn't even that bad,” Ferry said earlier Saturday by phone from the team bus. “The snow got worse when we had to stay overnight.”
A tweet from the team showed players literally pushing the bus out of the deep snow to free it.
With a winter storm bearing down, the Dukes defeated George Mason on Friday afternoon in Fairfax and then boarded a bus for Pittsburgh. The team left for home about 4:30 p.m. before coming to a stop almost five hours later.
For the next 23 hours, the bus didn't move. The turnpike was closed between Somerset and Breezewood.
“They shouldn't question that (decision to play),” Ferry said. “A bunch of people played (Friday).”
The university watched the weather and took precautions but couldn't have foreseen what happened, athletic director Dave Harper said.
The Atlantic 10 game was scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday but moved to 2 p.m. Friday because of the storm. The Dukes played VCU in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday and took a bus to Fairfax that night.
“We looked at weather radars, we looked at traffic, and the league consulted with both schools,” Harper said. “George Mason originally said 3 p.m. (on Friday), and we said let's move it up to 2 p.m. just to get a little bit more window. If we had started at 1:30 p.m., maybe they would have been home. There's no way to predict something like this happening.”
The gridlocked highway drew national attention, created a buzz on social media and saw several Duquesne staff members venture through deep snow for food.
“We got a little bit more bonding over the last 22 hours, that's for sure,” Ferry said Saturday evening. “They're really good guys. No one's complaining. No one's whining. We've watched some movies, tried to have some fun.”
Saba estimated there were 2 feet of snow on the road around the bus. With an early tipoff Friday, the team expected to miss the heavy snow.
“The center of (the storm) was down where we were, so we thought that once we got outside of that, we'd be home free basically,” Saba said. “And we were moving fine (Friday). We were moving along, and all of a sudden we stopped.”
At first, the team embraced the novelty of being stuck. Players and team personnel took to social media, posting pictures from inside the bus and of players having fun in the snow. One tweet from the team's account (@DuqMBB) showed senior Nick Foschia sprawled on the highway making a snow angel.
“We're not in this alone! Dukes hanging out with middle schoolers from Iowa on the bus stuck next to us,” read another tweet, accompanied by a picture that showed the team and the kids on the same bus. When the Dukes' search party returned from a grocery store with food, they shared their supply with the Iowa kids.
“It was definitely hard being in a bus for (30) hours, but we made the best of it,” senior Micah Mason said. “It was long and difficult but also fun. It's something we'll never forget.”
With the bus able to idle, the team had heat and power. A fire department and the National Guard arrived with bottled water just before noon Saturday. However, with food running low, staff members formed a search party. With help from emergency responders, the group returned with food.
One tweet shortly after 3 p.m. said, “A huge thank you goes to Joel and Scott of Somerset County Emergency Management Agency for driving staff to G. Eagle.” Minutes later, the team tweeted, “With bus still stuck, Joel and Scott drove a vehicle to nearby Bedford grocery store to help #DUQMBB load up on hot food and snacks.”
The Dukes also found comfort from afar.
“It was pretty neat to see everybody caring and reaching out to us,” Mason said. “They were making sure everybody was OK and praying for us. It was all kind of surreal.”
Said Ferry: “I've heard from former players and staff members. A bunch of coaches in the Atlantic 10 have checked in, the commissioner, coaches all across the country, and we really appreciate it. Dr. (Charles) Dougherty, our president, called to see if everything was all right, and Dave Harper, the athletic director, has been nothing but tremendous.”
Ferry also praised their bus driver.
For a time Saturday, with no word of when the bus would start moving again, frustration started to set in. At one point, the team contemplated spending a second night on the bus.
“It's a horrific situation for everybody on that bus, but they're making the best of it,” Harper said. “Our biggest concern is their safety, their health.”
Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.
