Diving after a loose ball in practice on Dec. 28, 2004, Providence men’s basketball point guard Donnie McGrath slightly tore two tendons in his right ankle.

Three days later, McGrath and his Providence teammates were supposed to play at San Diego State. His extended family’s plan to rendezvous in San Diego for PC’s New Year’s Eve game against the Aztecs was suddenly in serious jeopardy.

‘He said he didn’t think he would (play), and he never says that,’ said Eileen McGrath, Donnie’s mother.

McGrath, who will visit the Carrier Dome Saturday at noon along with his Providence teammates, had started in 160 consecutive games dating back to the first game of his freshman year at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Westchester. But the PC training staff would not grant him clearance to play at San Diego State. At least not until McGrath finally convinced them he could go two hours before tip-off.

‘My wife and I didn’t go (to San Diego) because we figured he wasn’t going to be playing,’ said Tom McGrath, Donnie’s father. ‘He could barely walk.

‘We didn’t get (the game) on TV, so we were listening to it through the computer on the radio and all of a sudden we heard him being announced as a starter.

‘We just looked at each other like, ‘We can’t believe it, how is he playing?’ And he went out and played well.’

In 34 minutes, McGrath scored 17 points, shooting 4 for 7 from 3-point range, in a 76-67 PC win.

It was the prime example of resiliency displayed by McGrath throughout his entire basketball career.

Providence head coach Tim Welsh would not allow Providence players to comment because of the team’s season-long struggles.

While he has never suffered anything a serious injury, McGrath has endured a litany of problematic minor injuries.

‘He broke his nose once,’ Tom said of a game in high school. ‘He’s had stitches in a game one time and bad jams of the thumb where you think, ‘He can’t even catch the ball, how is he going to play?’ He manages to muster up a lot of adrenaline and just go out and play through a lot of pain. He’s always done that.’

‘He never complains,’ Eileen said. ‘I’d be the first one to say, jeez, ‘Do you feel alright?’ He says, ‘I’m fine.’ Meanwhile, I’m like, ‘Oh my God.”

Actually, McGrath’s streak ended with PC’s Jan. 11 game against Villanova. But it had nothing to do with his ankle. He contracted a severe case of the flu and wasn’t even allowed to attend the game.

Even though he wasn’t fully recovered, McGrath returned for PC’s next game, which was against SU on Jan. 15. And as if playing on one good foot wasn’t bad enough, he sprained his left ankle against West Virginia on Jan. 29. By that time, Providence (12-15, 2-11 Big East) had lost its first five Big East games and established itself as the bottom-feeder of the conference.

But rest was not an option for McGrath. On Feb. 2 against Virginia, a rare win for the team, McGrath scored a career-high 27 points on 9-for-9 shooting from 3-point range.

Furthermore, in PC’s last six games, including a double-overtime loss to UConn on Feb. 15, McGrath has missed a total of nine minutes.

‘I can’t understand how he’s playing (now),’ said Tommy McGrath, Donnie’s older brother. ‘I actually just saw his ankles (three days ago), and it looks like there’s an apple in each one of them.’

McGrath’s durability can be traced to the only other hobby he lists on his athletic department profile besides playing basketball: Working out. Perhaps it is no coincidence that his family lives down the street from a gym.

‘When he says working out,’ Tommy said, ‘he means not only (lifting weights) but shooting jump shots, doing dribbling drills.

‘It is unbelievable how much he works during the summers. He’ll go and run a mile on the track with ankle weights on, then he’ll do some sprints, then shoot some foul shots. He just is always playing non-stop. It’s like a summer job.’

‘When you think, OK, ‘This is the hardest he can work,’ he keeps on working,’ Eileen said. ‘He never gives himself a break. Sometimes I think it’s good to take a break, but he loves what he does.’

In fact, McGrath’s motivation stemmed from a desire to attend PC long before the recruiting process. The summer after his freshman year of high school, Kennedy Catholic’s basketball team went to a camp at Providence. Hooked immediately, he declared his college search complete when he came home.

‘(My husband and I) were like, ‘This kid’s nuts,” Eileen said.

As it turned out, PC desperately needed a point guard the year McGrath graduated. Fittingly, his breakout game his freshman year was at Boston College, where his best friend and older brother Tommy attended school at the time as a junior. He scored 23 points, which was his career-high until this season.

But the hardest obstacle for McGrath to overcome in his life was not an injury.

On April 4, 2004, McGrath was charged with domestic simple assault. According to The Providence Journal, the police report said he choked his four-year girlfriend – Alexis Morganti – after a disagreement.

McGrath pled not guilty to the charge. He pled no contest to a lesser charge in July.

‘Sometimes when you’re in the public eye like that, things aren’t always presented the way they actually happened,’ said Tom Nelligan, McGrath’s coach at Kennedy Catholic. ‘It was clearly something that he had to work through, but he’s a got strong family support. And I know that the Providence community has been behind him.’

McGrath put the incident behind him the only way he knew how – by playing basketball. In June, he toured China as part of the National Invitation Tournament all-star team. He then turned his attention to working out harder than he had in his life for this season.

The extra effort allowed McGrath to stay on the court this year, even if he has done so by hobbling around a little bit.

‘He’s only got a season (plus) five or so games left (in his career),’ Tommy said. ‘The last thing he wants to do is miss a game.’

Published on February 23, 2005 at 12:00 pm