For One, Highs and Lows in Basketball

By Steven Roberts
Staff Writer

For the first three minutes of the Seawolves’ final home game versus the University of Maine, it appeared that team captain Bobby Santiago’s Stony Brook career would have a happy ending – well, in a “Bad News Bears” sort of way. 

Point guard Santiago opened the game with a 3-pointer, and fellow senior Hendrik Feist hit a jumper and then another 3-pointer to put Stony Brook up 8 to 3. The seniors appeared to be going out on a winning note. 

However, Maine took the lead at the 17-minute mark and never looked back. 

Santiago, 21, attended All Hallows High School in the Bronx and played Amateur Athletic Union for Riverdale Church. He was first team and second team All-City his junior and senior years respectively. 

He led All Hollows to the city championship game in his senior year, eventually losing to Rice High School. He’d hoped his playing would land him a scholarship at a big-time program and would lead one day to NBA success. 

Santiago showed the pedigree for a Division I program. In fact, Santiago said, he was recruited by programs such as Florida State, Rutgers and St. Peter’s. He had not taken his SATs in his junior year in high school, however, and had yet to do so during his senior year. These schools soon began to lose interest with him. 

“I never woke up,” said Santiago. “It was something real idiotic of me.” He eventually woke up, he said, and still was able to garner interest from some programs. 

On a school tour with his mother, Santiago said, he was won over by Stony Brook. He said he was attracted by the campus, the diverse student body, the female student bodies and the university’s proximity to New York. 

Santiago said he wanted to be close to home because of his strong relationship with his family, in particular his brother. 

Ronnie Santiago – by day – works for Mason Technologies, an Internet hosting provider. He, along with his wife and 1-year-old son, share a two-family house with Bobby and their parents. Ronnie Santiago, 26, is Bobby’s older brother. Yet, if you ask Bobby, he’s so much more. 

“He’s my best friend in the world,” Santiago said. He also said that his older brother is the biggest influence in his life. He credited him with nearly everything he’s accomplished, not just on the court, but as a man. 

Growing up, whenever Santiago would stray, his brother was there to keep him on the straight and narrow, he said. Ronnie was the one who sat him down and convinced him to take the SATs. 

“Without college, Bobby would have had no shot in the real world,” Ronnie Santiago said in a phone interview a day after watching his brother’s final collegiate outing. He said he hoped college would open up other avenues for his younger brother.
This motivation ultimately propelled Santiago not only to play on the collegiate level but also to receive a college education. Santiago plans to graduate after the 2007 fall semester with a degree in cinema and cultural studies. 

Santiago said that he always has had an interest in films and directing, but it’s not his goal. Once he stepped onto the SBU court, Santiago realized he was closer to his dream of playing professionally. 

“It was like a dream,” said Santiago, describing his first game against Sacred Heart. He contributed 16 points and 4 assists in the overtime win. By his third game, he was the starting point guard. And by the end of the 2002-03 seasons’ first week, he was named the America East Rookie of the Week. 

Like the emotional high of being honored and that last game’s first three mintues, however, things come down. 

Entering Sunday’s game, the Seawolves were 4-22 on the season, and Santiago was 39-74 in his Stony Brook career. So it was almost fitting, in a post-modern sense, that the Seawolves lost the game, never seeing the lead again after the third minute. 

It appears the team will be much improved next season with an intriguing recruitment class and Coach Pikiell entering his second year. Santiago said he only regrets not being able to learn more from Pikiell. 

In fact, he said, he has considered becoming part of the coaching staff. “As the point guard, he’s the extended floor general out there, so he’d be a good fit as a coach,” Assistant Coach Guy Rancourt said. 

Santiago said he hopes to continue playing professionally overseas in Europe or in Puerto Rico. His coaches said if he works at it, he definitely has the ability to make it. When asked about his chances of making the NBA via team tryouts, Santiago said he feels that making the NBA is one-in-a-million possibility. “I’m better off going overseas,” Santiago said.