Stephen Solaja was overcome with joy as he watched students and fans rush the St. Thomas Academy floor.

When the clock struck zero in Harding’s heart-stopping, 66-65 section final win over the Cadets in Mendota Heights, history was officially made.

For the first time in program history, the Knights were state tournament-bound. Harding will take on top-seeded Mankato East in the Class 3A quarterfinals at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Williams Arena.

“It’s meant everything,” Solaja, the Knights’ head coach, said of the achievement.

For so many reasons, and so many people.

For the program

Solaja was a member of the 2003 Harding basketball team that lost in the section final to Tartan. That marked the last year the Knights won a postseason basketball game.

A couple of the playoff losses that have occurred since were close. Most were not. Noted St. Paul sports historian John Vosejpka said the Knights only made three other trips to the Region 4 semifinals, and the most recent of those came in 1966.

Harding has never been a basketball school. Until now.

“To be in this spot after not winning a section game in 22 years, it’s surreal,” Solaja said. “Kind of a full-circle moment for me.”

The success is a credit to the players, but also the staff. That includes Solaja and assistant coach Leiland Moore. After three years as an assistant coach, Solaja took the head job three years ago. At the time, Moore told him these were the heights to which Harding would one day ascend.

Moore noted the coaches have tried to instill a belief in their players, a mentality that says, “You’re a winner.”

“They’re not just like coaches. They’re someone you can talk to at any time. Father figures,” Harding senior Mahamadou Kamara said. “Even if you do something bad, they’ll say what you did wrong, pick you up and coach you through everything like toughness, and stuff like that. They’re some of the best coaches I’ve had in my life, and I’m real grateful for them.”

For the team

Moore coached the ninth-grade team when Harding’s current crop of seniors were freshmen. He saw the potential back then that the rest of the state is witnessing now.

“It was kind of like, ‘Alright, this is a group,’ ” Moore said.

And it stuck together over the ensuing years while also receiving an injection of talent in the form of Salman Hussein, who transferred into the program in the pursuit of more opportunity.

Slowly, the results turned. Harding won six games in the 2021-22 campaign, then 12 the following year before winning 18 last season. Its 2024 postseason was again a short one after an upset loss in the section quarters to Minneapolis Roosevelt that left a bad taste in the mouths of the Knights.

The table was set for this season, though. Harding was stacked with seniors. Moore noted the recipe for success is talent and age. If the Knights acted their age in all walks of life, they’d succeed.

They put in ample offseason work, ranging from summer drills to fall leagues, yet the sailing was not smooth. Solaja felt this season’s team had more talent than even a year ago, but the results were inconsistent. The Knights aimed to win their holiday tournament. That didn’t happen. Nor did they seriously contend for the St. Paul City Conference crown.

Forget the wins and losses, the vibes were off.

“We were struggling to gel,” Solaja said. “At times we were like, ‘Man, what is it?’ “

Solaja noted not everyone on the team could “see the vision.” Not everyone who started the year with the team finished it.

“We had to do inner fixing, stuff had to change, meetings,” Hussein said. “It was really all a lesson. Losing is a part of life, and it’s really (about) what you learn from it and how you move on from it.”

Moore felt the tide shift during the team’s Valentine’s Day trip to Hermantown. A long bus ride can do wonders for building team camaraderie. A chemistry quickly formed, and the play improved.

“We got better at playing more as a team, passing the ball around,” said senior guard Ai’Jhon Douglas, Harding’s leading scorer.

“Talking on defense … communicating on both ends of the floor,” Hussein added. “We’ve been playing with more effort.”

And, in the process, living up to their potential. What were previously close losses morphed into close wins, highlighted by the section final. The Knights trailed the Cadets by eight with roughly six minutes to play. They didn’t fold. They stuck together and rallied, and won in a spot where they likely wouldn’t have in the past.

“That … was kind of like an, ‘Ah, here we go again,’ situation,’ ” Moore said. “But our kids executed, we learned from our past mistakes, and those things carried over.”

For the city

Hussein woke up the morning after the section final to find his phone blown up with supportive messages. They were from a wide array of people, from friends to people he’d played against throughout the season.

Solaja has experienced the same, with opposing coaches reaching out to say how proud they are of him, and urging the Knights to keep pushing forward.

“To see the love and support these kids got, I think it just kind of goes back to whatever you put in, you get out,” Moore said. “These kids work hard for it. Now you’re starting to see the love that comes with that, the attention, things like that. It’s great to see.”

Hussein has spoken to a number of other basketball players from the city who plan to attend Tuesday’s game to cheer on the Knights.

Johnson players, Como Park players, you name it — they’ll be there.

“All in support of the East Side, and just St. Paul in general,” Hussein said. “We’re all just a part of one community.”

St. Paul is in the midst of a bit of a boys basketball renaissance. Central won the Twin Cities title this season. Johnson pushed DeLaSalle to the brink in the Class 3A, Section 3 title game. Humboldt won 14 games, tying its most victories since 1978, and that included a playoff victory.

But Harding is the first St. Paul Public School to reach the boys basketball state tournament in a decade. The Hawks will represent the entire city when they take the floor Tuesday. Who better to do so than the quick, scrappy, defense-minded team no one believed would be here?

“We’ve got a bunch of dogs,” Hussein said. “They’re gritty, they’ll get into you. They’re hooping like they’ve got nothing to lose, and that’s really good.

For the school

That look of euphoria on the faces of the students, friends, family members and alums charging onto the floor last Thursday hit Solaja a little differently than most. He has worked in the building at his alma mater since 2016.

“So, I was here when we had our downs,” he said.

Most notably in February 2023, when a student was fatally stabbed. Nothing will ever heal that wound. But Solaja takes pride in helping to generate something good for the school, and giving people a reason to come together in celebration.

“Just getting some positive outlook for Harding means everything to me, because being a former student, and now a coach here, the East Side doesn’t really get a lot of positive vibes,” Solaja said. “So, just getting the positive vibes and everybody being so amazing toward our basketball team and cheering us on, it’s been everything.”

Hussein looks forward to the coming years, when he can return to his alma mater, look into the school’s trophy case and see “my squad” proudly represented with its section championship trophy.

“(We’re) leaving memories here, leaving a legacy for future kids that pursue basketball here,” he said. “I’m glad that I’ve had this group of guys with me. I wouldn’t want to do it with nobody else.”