By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Feb. 13, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University Colonials accomplished a lot Thursday night at Central Connecticut State.
The Colonials won, for one thing, and stopped CCSU's four-game winning streak with a 69-60 victory.
They clinched a spot in the Northeast Conference tournament.
They extended their NEC winning streak to 10 games.
And by improving its overall record to 17-9, RMU clinched a fifth consecutive winning season - the first time in program history they've achieved a run of winning seasons of that length.
But there's more work to be done, according to head coach Mike Rice.
"I don't care about winning seasons,'' he said. "I want championships.''
Well, that can happen, too.
The Colonials, who won the NEC regular-season championship in each of Rice's first two seasons at RMU, can make it three straight by winning their next three games.
There are other ways they can do that, but that's the most direct route.
Robert Morris can start wrapping things up Saturday when it visits Bryant. A win Saturday, plus a victory against Sacred Heart at the Sewall Center next Thursday, sets up the Colonials (12-1 in the NEC) for a title-clinching game against Quinnipiac (11-2), Feb. 20, at the Sewall Center.
"We'll have to fight, scratch and claw,'' Rice said. "We have five games left, but the most important game of our lives is the next one.''
That would be Bryant, and this has all the earmarks of a "trap'' game for the Colonials.
Bryant (0-25, 0-13) is one of two winless teams in Division I (Alcorn State is the other).
The Bulldogs have been without their best player, injured Cecil Gresham, virtually all season.
They're offensively challenged. Their per game scoring average of 52.1 points is the lowest in Division I. They haven't touched 50 points in any of their previous four games - twice scoring just 34 points. That includes their 60-34 loss to Saint Francis (Pa.) Thursday night in which they had more turnovers (17) than field goals (14).
"We just can't score,'' Bryant coach Tim O'Shea told the Providence Journal. "It's not lack of hustle. The defense is OK. We just can't score.''
Against Saint Francis (Pa.), the Bulldogs shot only 28 percent from the field. They missed their first 19 attempts from beyond the arc and finished 1-of-22.
Robert Morris has held its NEC opponents to 37.8 percent shooting from the field and 30.0 percent accuracy from deep, figures that lead the league. And in its past eight NEC games, RMU has limited its opponents to 25.2 percent accuracy from three-point range.
The Colonials held Central Connecticut to 5-of-21 shooting from deep en route to their 43rd win in 49 NEC regular-season games under Rice.
They built a 55-38 lead with 11:39 remaining in the second half but had to weather a bit of a challenge from the Blue Devils before winning rather comfortably.
"We let up and get in our own way,'' Rice said. "You can't do that if you're going to be a great team. It's such a roller coaster ride for this team.''
The Colonials didn't help themselves by making just 11-of-20 free throw attempts. They're shooting only 66.4 percent from the line in NEC games - something to be mindful of down the stretch.
Still, 12-1 is 12-1.
"They play with a lot of tenacity,'' CCSU coach Howie Dickenman said. "We lost to a very good team - a veteran team. I would say they're as good a team as anyone in the league.''
Quinnipiac stayed on RMU's heels with a 77-65 win against visiting St. Francis (N.Y.) The Bobcats held the Terriers to 5-of-24 shooting from deep - including 0-of-12 in the second half. They survived an off-night from leading scorer James Feldeine (1-of-10 from the field, six points) by shooting 28-of-52 (53.8 percent) from the floor.
"It's still in our hands,'' Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said. "We determine our own fate. We're finding a lot of different ways to win games. Some games it's offense. Some games it's defense. A lot of games, it's rebounding. (Thursday night), it wasn't real pretty. I think it was more of a street-fight game.''
Which is pretty much just the way it is in the NEC - especially late in the season when teams are scrambling to make the NEC tournament.
"Everyone has tough games,'' Long Island coach Jim Ferry said. "You have to play them all, and when it's all over and the smoke clears we figure out who's who and go play each other in the playoffs.''
Long Island (8-5) pretty much assured itself of a spot in the NEC tournament with its 81-75 victory at Sacred Heart, which has lost five straight games for the first time since the 2004-05 season. The Blackbirds had only six turnovers in the win, which they clinched by going 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the final 1:27.
Sacred Heart could not overcome a subpar game from leading scorer Corey Hassan, who was 4-of-16 from the field and had 11 points. Nor could the Pioneers overcome yet another abysmal performance from the foul line. Sacred Heart is shooting a woeful 57.1 percent from the stripe in NEC games, including its 7-of-17 clank job against Long Island.
"You can pick out different plays and everything, but we're just making the game too hard,'' Sacred Heart coach Dave Bike said.
Hassan's take?
"We are in a funk right now,'' he said.
Fairleigh Dickinson (8-5) remained tied for third place with Long Island by beating visiting Wagner, 70-65. Sean Baptiste led the Knights with 26 points. Alvin Mofunanya had 12 points and 17 rebounds. Point guard Mike Scott contributed 11 assists.
One of the eye-catching results Thursday night was Mount St. Mary's hammering Monmouth, 69-42, at Monmouth. The Mountaineers, picked by the league's coaches to win the championship this season, have won five straight after winning just two of their first eight league games.
"Top to bottom, that's as solid and as athletic a team as there is in the league,'' Monmouth coach Dave Calloway said. "They started out slow (and) they've been playing catch-up ever since. They seem to have it going at the right time right now.''
Mount St. Mary's was just 9-of-20 from the foul line, but offset that by making 12-of-21 attempts from deep.
Monmouth pulled to within seven, 46-39, with 8:20 remaining, but the Mountaineers finished the game impressively with a 23-3 run. Monmouth (6-7) went 2-5 during the seven-game suspension of leading scorer Travis Taylor, who returns Saturday against Wagner.
"We're not going to quit,'' Calloway said. "We have guys that are not going to lay down. They're going to fight their way back.''
NEC NUGGETS: Freshman Karon Abraham led the Colonials at Central Connecticut State with 16 points, raising his season total to 342 points. Jeremy Chappell set the RMU record for most points in a season by a freshman with 410 in 2005-06 … Senior Rob Robinson contributed 14 points, his highest output since he scored 15 against Fairleigh Dickinson Jan. 14 … With the win at Bryant, Saint Francis (Pa.) ended two streaks. The Red Flash had lost 23 consecutive road games overall and 17 consecutive road NEC games … Red Flash standout Devin Sweetney scored 11 points and moved into ninth place ahead of former St. Francis great Norm Van Lier on the program's career scoring list. Van Lier scored 1,410 points, and Sweetney now owns 1,415 … The 34 points managed by Bryant were the fewest allowed by Saint Francis (Pa.) since it beat Steubenville, 43-34, Jan. 27, 1974 … Freshman guard Umar Shannon has left the St. Francis team and will not return … Freshman guard Danny Mundweiler led Wagner Thursday night with the 18 points he scored on 6-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc … Mount St. Mary's senior Will Holland also shot well from deep. He was 5-of-6 and had 15 points off the bench.
