By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
December 14, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - It would take something rather extraordinary in the assists category to top the 10 helpers Robert Morris University freshman Anthony Myers dished against Youngstown State last Saturday.
However, sophomore Velton Jones might have done it.
Most basketball assists help result in two points. Sometimes they even help produce three points.
Jones' assist, though, helped produce 26 points.
Yep, that's a pretty productive assist, all right.
To be accurate, Jones did not make his assist on the court against Youngstown State. But his assist certainly helped the Colonials dispatch the Penguins, 90-60.
Jones' "feed'' enabled sophomore guard Karon Abraham to drop 26 points on YSU in his full-fledged return from a four-game suspension for violating team rules.
It was Abraham's first start in five games, he came off the bench in a desultory performance at West Virginia, Dec. 7, and it wound up being his most productive game for RMU.
That it did so can be traced to a chat Jones had with Abraham at practice last Friday.
Jones noticed Abraham seemed uncomfortable with his shot at West Virginia. He was 0-for-5 from the field, including 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. Jones also thought Abraham was hesitant shooting during that Friday practice.
"What are you doing?'' Jones asked Abraham. "When did you ever question yourself about shooting or second-guess yourself about shooting? Shoot the ball. That's what you do. We have enough confidence in you (that) if you miss, shoot again. Then shoot again. Just keep shooting. You are a shooter. That's what you do.''
Abraham listened, and then considered Jones' message.
"He's right,'' Abraham thought. "I'm a shooter. That's what I do.''
And that's exactly what he did against Youngstown State. He shot. And he shot. Then he shot some more.
He made eight of his first 10 attempts from beyond the arc and finished with those career-high 26 points.
"I just wanted to instill some confidence in him,'' Jones said.
"That picked me up big time,'' a grateful Abraham said. "Before the game, I was getting in double workouts working on my shot, making sure I wouldn't have a rusty game. It worked out for me. It worked out for me big time, so I'll keep doing that before every game and hopefully it works the same way every time.''
The importance of Abraham having had a standout performance for the Colonials was not lost on anybody, including Abraham, whose suspension began after the Duquesne game, Nov. 19.
"It was very important because I know I let my team down," Abraham said. "It was time to show up and time to get back to the way we play basketball and do the things we do and get back on that winning page. They kept cheering me on and kept telling me to shoot.''
"It was huge,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "I think when he went out, we kind of stunted our growth. We were getting set with rotations. We were getting set with guys' roles and when they were going to be coming into the game. Then, all of a sudden, Karon's out, the deck gets shuffled. For two weeks guys start to get settled again, and then he comes back and the deck gets reshuffled.
"So it's obviously great for his own personal confidence to have a game like he had. It's great for the team, too, because when you have a guy who's capable of scoring like he is it eases the pressure on a lot of different guys. Now we can almost get back to the improvement we were making before the Duquesne game.''
What did Abraham learn from his suspension?
"Be more humble,'' he said. "Not try to be that outsider from the team. Stick to the way I am and how I was last year and do the things I did last year to help me succeed. That's what I'm trying to get back to doing and let my teammates help me, as well as everybody else around me who supports me.''
Support was everywhere against Youngstown State.
Led by Myers' 10 assists, the Colonials had 25 assists on their 31 field goals, an exceptionally high ratio. It's also a huge reason why RMU shot 57.4 percent from the field and 54.2 percent from deep.
That season-high accuracy produced the most points in a game by the Colonials since Nov. 21, 2009, when they beat Alcorn State, 107-76, in Albany, N.Y., in the 2K Sports Classic. It was their most points at home since they beat Wagner, 104-56, Jan. 17, 2009.
"Incredible,'' Toole said of the assist total. "Obviously Ant Myers led the way. We had 54 shots and I'd say 51 of them were pretty wide open and were unselfish shots. I thought guys made the extra pass and were unselfish when they got into the lane. It was one of our best passing games probably since Tony Lee was here (as a senior in 2007-08).''
"Teamwork over talent,'' Jones said. "The past three years, that's what our teams have been based on. Teamwork, passing the ball, being unselfish with each other. Sometimes we stray away from that, but it shows that when we work together we're pretty good.''
The Colonials' win against Youngstown State was one of five victories Northeast Conference teams had against out-of-conference opposition last Saturday.
Those five wins continued the NEC's improvement against non-NEC teams.
Last season, the league was 38-104 in non-conference games. This season, through last Saturday, the league was 36-51 out of conference.
"I think this league is improving,'' Toole said. "I think you have guys coaching in the league who are kind of driving their programs in the right direction. There are guys who really get it in this league as coaches. They get that you can compete, you can play hard, you can recruit the right kids to go in and win games out of conference. I think that's a little bit of a change from the traditional past adventures of the Northeast Conference.''
Winning the NEC Tournament championship is the only way an NEC team can qualify for the NCAA Tournament, so there's a ton of importance placed on the league schedule. Perhaps, though, the league's coaches are expanding their emphasis to include the non-conference games.
"Why wouldn't you want to do that?'' Toole asked. "Kids don't want to go somewhere and not compete and not win games. When you're getting kids to come to your school, you're going to go out and try to win every game.''
Over the past four-plus seasons, the Colonials are 30-24 in regular-season out-of-conference games. What makes that record even more impressive is that several of the losses were in "guarantee games'' - road games against top-level teams that pay RMU to play the game.
"There's a hard balance in (playing) those (guarantee) games,'' Toole said, "but, again, if you're recruiting the right kids and you have the right kids in your program who are competitive and who want to play against the best, then they get excited for those games. Obviously at some point in time bigger, faster, stronger usually wins out. But I think if you look at the makeup of some of the teams in the league and you look at the way the coaches are handling some of the teams in the league by telling them that they can compete with teams and can win games, I think that changes the focus of the out-of-conference schedule for some of the teams in the league.''
