WEST POINT, N.Y. — Justin Jennings was moments away from realizing a dream.

Then he experienced a nightmare.

The Seneca Valley graduate and Army assistant men’s basketball coach was inside Madison Square Garden Jan. 23, helping prep the Cadets for a game against rival Navy.

“I grew up watching Pitt play Big East Tournament games in that place,” Jennings said. “It is the mecca, the most recognized arena in the world.

“For a long time, I’ve dreamed of either playing or coaching a game there.”

Jennings’ career never seemed headed in that direction. He was a four-year starter at point guard at Penn State-Behrend and is third on that school’s career assist list with 322.

From there, he became an assistant basketball coach at Behrend for two years, then assisted for three seasons at Carnegie Mellon.

Still a long way from MSG.

But after coaching the U.S. Military Academy Prep School team for three years — compiling a 77-18 record — Jennings drew a little closer. When an opening on Army’s coaching staff appeared last season, he was moved up to fill it.

And the game against Navy at the Garden was on the schedule for this year.

“We all looked forward to it,” Jennings said. “It was history in the making for all of us.

“Our women’s team played Navy in the first game. Our guys were in uniform, ready to take the court for warm-ups when the women’s game ended, and we were in the locker room going over match-ups with Navy’s personnel.”

That’s when the looming history got snuffed out.

Army’s athletic director entered the locker room to inform the team that the governor of New York had declared a state of emergency due to the impending snowstorm and the Garden was shutting down.

“We had no choice in the matter,” Army publicist Mark Mohrman said. “All cars needed to be off the streets by 2:30 p.m. and mass transit was being shut down at 4 p.m.

“Everybody was in shock. There were 1,000 or so people in the building toward the end of the women’s game and everyone’s cell phone went off.

“It was a bizarre situation for everyone involved,” Mohrman added.

And a disappointing one for Jennings and the Army basketball team. The game has been rescheduled for Monday.

But it will be Army vs. Navy at West Point’s Christl Arena, not Madison Square Garden.

“I mostly feel badly for our seniors,” Jennings said. “We’re scheduled to play Navy at the Garden again next year. But this year’s senior-laden lineup won’t be a part of that.

“We got to practice on the (MSG) court the day before and we used the New York Knicks’ locker room. There is some consolation in that.”

But while the Army seniors won’t make history by playing at the Garden, they may make history another way.

Army is one of five Division I basketball programs in the country to never play in the NCAA Tournament. The Cadets are 12-7 this season — 3-4 in the Patriot League — and currently have the league’s leading scorer and rebounder sidelined with injuries.

Both of those players are due back in the lineup soon.

“Once we’re healthy, we believe we can make a run at the Patriot League title and the program’s first NCAA berth,” Jennings said. “That’s been the goal of these guys from Day One.”

Jennings coached four of this year’s senior starters on the prep team. They’ve already been part of a streak of three successive 15-win seasons for Army — the first time the program has secured that achievement since 1970, when Bobby Knight was coaching the squad.

Jennings works with the guards on the team and recruits the Midwestern states plus Texas. He has been offered other coaching jobs and turned them down.

“Sure, at some point, I’d love to run my own program,” he said. “But it will have to be a special opportunity to get me to leave here.

“The quality of person we work with is incredible. We coach kids who have made 40-year life decisions, not four-year basketball decisions.

“This is an unbelievable place to be. It’s an honor to coach at the No. 1 leadership institution in the world,” Jennings added.