JEFF JACOBS

Lamar ‘knew’ UMBC could beat Virginia

Arkel Lamar apologized Wednesday for calling 15 minutes late.

“I got stuck at the DMV trying to renew my license,” he said.

We’ve all been there, Arkel, all been there. So permit this plea to the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles: institute a special Cinderella Line. You show up with a silver slipper, or at least a pair of Steph Curry 5’s and a historic upset, you get immediate DMV service.

“Shock and awe in college basketball.” That’s what broadcaster Jim Nantz called it after UMBC shocked and awed Virginia, 74-54, last weekend to become the first 16-seed to beat a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Yet before the game in the locked room, Lamar, the Retrievers’ sophomore from Bridgeport, remembered nerves.

“Tons of nerves,” he said. By halftime, the nerves were gone.

“We were tied at halftime against the No. 1 team in the country, the No. 1 defensive team in the country and we’re not playing well at all,” Lamar said. “I told my team as long as we relax and execute the game plan, we’re going to come out on top.”

So at halftime you thought you were going to pull off the greatest upset in tournament history?

“I didn’t think,” Lamar said. “I knew.”

UMBC pulled away from Virginia, the 21-21 halftime score at Charlotte ballooned to a 20-point victory. In those 20 minutes and over 48 hours before the Retrievers fell to Kansas State in the second round, the Retrievers would become America’s darlings.

Everyone fell in love with elfin guard K.J. Maura. “So small, so much heart,” Lamar said. “Never gives up on a single possession.” Jairus Lyles, who had hit the 3-point, buzzer-beater to beat Vermont in the America East championship, finished with 28 points against Virginia. He couldn’t miss.

“It was an unbelievable feeling to be up on them at all,” Lamar said. “To beat them by a crazy amount, I mean, they hold teams to 53 points a game and we scored 53 in the second half.

“To watch Jarius hit 9-for-11 was so much fun, but I’ve got to be honest I see it all the time. His buzzer-beater to put us in the NCAA Tournament was the play of the year.”

Lamar, who would finish with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Virginia — the game’s only doubledouble — hit a 3 from the corner with 3 minutes, 35 seconds remaining. With 1:50 left, Lamar broke free for a wicked dunk. Nantz yelled, “Exclamation!” He hadn’t had a bunch of

dunks lately and it felt great, he said, to get this one for his team, for his family and friends in Bridgeport.

“The love and support we received from our fan section was just unbelievable,” he said. “This means a ton for our school.”

UMBC is on spring break this week. There were a couple dozen students waiting for the team bus as it pulled onto campus in the wee hours of Monday morning. Lamar fell asleep at 6 a.m. His mom picked him up at 11 a.m. to bring him home to Bridgeport.

By that time, a school that doesn’t get nearly enough respect had gotten plenty. Love poured in. After the Virginia game, Curry sent pairs of his new Under Armour Curry 5s. Some of the players wore them against Kansas State. Lamar did not.

“It was really cool what he did,” said Lamar, who averaged 10.3 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds. “But I have plantar fasciitis, so I have to break in shoes and that usually takes a week.”

Lamar grew up on Smith Street in the East End of

Bridgeport, and it was his grandmother Joan Tisdale who introduced Arkel to basketball.

“She taught me how to shoot, how to dribble,” he said.

He started out playing at Sterling House Community Center in Stratford. He moved onto the ECHO league in Stratford and Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport.

“Honestly that’s the place that made me fall in love with the game,” Lamar said. “It’s like a recreational camp, an after-school program.”

As an eighth grader, Lamar followed Andre Drummond, an older teammate from the AAU Connecticut Basketball Club, to St. Thomas More in Montville. He was struggling with school work and CBC founder J.R. Hargreaves felt he would mature there. Ninth grade, Lamar switched to Wilbraham & Monson Academy for a half semester. Life got complicated.

“My grandmother got sick, I moved to Cleveland to help take care of her,” Lamar said.

He went to John Adams High and Cleveland Central Catholic. When Tisdale was hospitalized, he moved to Shaker Heights. Coach Danny Young was a mentor.

“Taking care of my grandmother, I couldn’t play my freshman or sophomore years, but I was around some great athletes (including West Virginia’s Esa Ahmed) and picked up a lot of basketball knowledge.”

He returned with Tisdale to Connecticut to be closer to her family. Lamar played at St. Joseph in Trumbull his junior year

“After missing two years of basketball, I knew I would have to up my level of play, play against higher talent if I wanted to play in college,” Lamar said.

He returned to St. Thomas More to play for Jere Quinn. He repeated his junior year before finishing his senior season. He played the five behind Steven Enoch, who later would leave UConn for Louisville, and then Omari Spellman, who plays at Villanova.

“We had tons of talent,” Lamar said of a team that included UConn’s Christian Vital. “It was pretty rough to play the five those two years, go to college and play the three but I’m catching on. St. Thomas More is a small campus. It was the best spot to get my grades right and help me succeed.

“Back in the eighth grade, I’d watch the postgrad

team with Andre Drummond and Damion Lee. I told Coach Quinn, ‘I’m going to play for you one of these days.’ ”

It took six high schools, but he did. Recruited by a number of colleges, he was going to commit to St. John’s, but Steve Lavin got fired. A chance to play at the Garden in front of friends and family was gone.

“Along the way I visited UMBC,” Lamar said. “The coaching staff showed me tons of love, the players were amazing to me. It’s a tiny campus, a family environment. That’s what I need. I can focus and not worry about too many distractions.”

Joan Tisdale passed away Lamar’s senior year at St. Thomas More. And on this Wednesday, back home, he thought about her and about the wonder of March 2018.

“There were a couple of times in my life when I wanted to stop playing,” Arkel Lamar said. “She was my motivation. She told me to lock in, don’t give up, that God has a plan for me.

“I’m glad I listened to her, because my teammates and I just made history.”