By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Feb. 22, 2011
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - Coron Williams has had some nice moments for the Robert Morris University Colonials this season.
On Dec. 2, in the Colonials' Northeast Conference opener at Long Island, he made 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and finished with 13 points in RMU's 70-69 win over the Blackbirds, who would go on to win the NEC regular-season championship.
It's worth noting that Karon Abraham, the Colonials' leading scorer, did not play in that game because he was serving a four-game suspension.
A month later, Williams drained 4-of-6 from deep and had 14 points in RMU's 79-76 overtime victory at Ohio University.
A month after that, Williams made 4-of-5 from international waters and scored 12 points in RMU's 91-38 romp past Bryant.
And last Saturday, Williams hit all five of his attempts from three-point range, netting a career-high 15 points in the Colonials' 62-60 win at Monmouth that kept them in the running for a first-round home game in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament.
"Enormous,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said of Williams' contribution against the Hawks. "We needed every single bucket he made.''
Said senior Gary Wallace: "Coron Williams made some big, big, big shots.''
It's worth noting, too, that Abraham went down with a right leg injury five minutes into that game and didn't return.
Williams' clutch performance at Monmouth, which included four treys in the second half, was his most significant of the season.
To date, that is.
What he does from here on out could prove to be much more significant for the Colonials.
If Abraham cannot play in Thursday night's game against Mount St. Mary's at the Charles L. Sewall Center, Williams will start. And it would be the same situation if Abraham also cannot play against Wagner Saturday on Senior Night at the Sewall Center in the regular-season finale.
Robert Morris stands 10-6 in the NEC, having used a four-game winning streak to assume fourth place. That's important because only the top four finishers are guaranteed a first-round home game in the NEC tourney.
Mount St. Mary's, which has lost three straight, is 8-8 and tied for sixth place. Wagner is 9-7 and in fifth place.
There a bunch of scenarios that would give the Colonials a first-round home game March 3, but the simplest of those scenarios to understand is this: If the Colonials win both games this weekend, they'll play at the Sewall Center March 3.
And that's where Williams could figure mightily.
The redshirt freshman leads the team in three-point accuracy overall this season at 43.4 percent. Against NEC opposition, Abraham is the league leader at 47.4 percent. Williams is second at 46.2 percent.
"We've talked about it all year long,'' Toole said. "The one thing we know (about Williams is) nothing shakes his ability to shoot the ball and be confident in his ability to shoot. From here on out, he's going to have to be overly aggressive with his shot. He's the kind of guy if you can get him nine or 10 shots (in a game), he can make four or five of them on average. And if he's really open, he can make more than that.
"We're going to have to work with him on figuring out some ways to continue to get him open and work with him on maybe quickening the pace at which he gets it a off because now people are going to really try to take him away. But the kid can really shoot it.''
If Abraham is unable to play this weekend, one silver lining is that his teammates did play without him earlier this season.
"I think we'll be fine,'' Wallace said. "It will be an adjustment period like always. You have to adjust when things happen. That's the interesting thing about basketball. It's a team sport, and as we saw the other night against Monmouth a lot of different individuals stepped up. Coron Williams. Anthony Myers made some critical plays.
"It's going to be a team effort, a real team effort. We're going to have to do that from here on out. It will be a little different, but we were without him a couple (of NEC) games at the beginning of the season. It was a little difficult, but I think we're more than capable. You just put your mind to it and go out there and get it done.''
As the Colonials did at Monmouth.
"We were able to persevere and get a win,'' Toole said. "I thought we had pretty good energy defensively. We got stops when we needed to get stops. If you consistently defend and rebound, you give yourself a chance even if you are without certain personnel or you are in foul trouble or whatever the case would be.''
Guard Velton Jones had a career-high eight rebounds against Monmouth.
"That's what you have to do if you want to win games,'' Toole said. "We had huge foul trouble Saturday. Guys continued to rebound the ball. Guys continued to get stops.''
It's something the "guys'' began talking about early in this four-game winning streak.
"They started to talk about digging in and getting a stop, getting a rebound,'' Toole said. "They said, 'This is our season. This is where we have to make a play.' And it was the same last weekend. At the end of the FDU game (last Thursday), they said, 'Continue to execute. Continue to try to improve.' The guys are saying this - 'It's not just about winning this game. It's about getting better. It's about preparing ourselves.'
"The Monmouth game was a much closer game (than RMU's 74-50 win at FDU), and we needed every possession and every stop. The focus and execution down the stretch were really good. We executed some great sets and got guys some really good looks down the stretch that allowed us to win the game.''
Sophomore Russell Johnson's field goal with 3.3 seconds remaining provided the decisive points at Monmouth. Johnson, who had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds, will continue to come off the bench while Lawrence Bridges starts in his stead.
"Lawrence has played very well,'' Toole said. "It's not necessarily very fair to Lawrence to put him back on the bench. Russell's played well. I don't know if he's done anything over and above to say that (he wants) to start again. He tells me kind of with his actions if he's OK with it or not. And so far he seems to be and he seems to be contributing. He hit the game-winning shot on Saturday and had some big rebounds and some big finishes around the rim. As long as he's playing to a level that's helping us win games, then it's OK where he's at.''
UP NEXT: The Colonials won at Mount St. Mary's, 51-48, Jan. 8. The Mountaineers lost twice at home last weekend - to St. Francis (N.Y.), 63-60, and Long Island, 84-64. They were just 9-of-23 from the free throw line against LIU.
"I thought this was the first week of the year where we took a step backward,'' coach Robert Burke told the Carroll County Times. "Maybe we took a breath. People start telling you you're good on campus - 'Oh, you guys are great.' Maybe I forgot to warn them enough about that. Overall, it was a long week for us.''
The Mountaineers' 20-point loss to LIU was their worst NEC loss at home since Robert Morris beat them by 24 points (80-56) Jan. 12, 2005. The Colonials led just 41-38 at halftime. Maurice Carter led RMU with 23 points. Robert Morris (6-for-16) and Mount St. Mary's (7-for-16) were a combined 13-for-32 from the free throw line in that game.
Senior Shawn Atupem over the past five games has averaged 15.2 points per game and shot 72.7 percent (32-of-44) from the field.
"Shawn Atupem's as good a post player as there is in this league,'' Toole said.
This will be the 17th game between RMU and Mount St. Mary's since 2005. The Colonials are 11-5 over the Mount in that span. Ten of those 16 games were decided by five points or less.
NEC NUGGETS: Freshman Anthony Myers has 105 assists and is within of tying Samba Johnson's program record for most assists by a freshman in a season. Johnson had 106 in 1992-93 … The Colonials lost five of their first six games decided by five points or less this season. However, they've won six of their past seven games decided by five points or less … Over the past 10 seasons (beginning with 2001), the Colonials have won 114 NEC games. Only Central Connecticut State (115) has won more … In that same span, RMU has a league-best eight seasons with at least 10 NEC victories … CCSU's Ken Horton might have clinched the league's Player of the Year award last Saturday in the Blue Devils' 68-67 loss to visiting Quinnipiac. Horton had 35 points and nine rebounds. He was 13-of-14 from the stripe … Wagner is fifth in the country in free throw accuracy (77.6 percent). If the Seahawks maintain that mark, they'll break the NEC's season record of 77.1 percent set by Monmouth in the 1990-91 season … Eleven of Wagner's 16 NEC games have been decided by five points or less. The Seahaws have won seven of those 11 … Wagner was called for 33 fouls in its 77-73 loss to visiting St. Francis (N.Y.) last Saturday. That was Wagner's second-highest total this season. The Seahawks were called for 34 fouls at St. Francis (N.Y.) Jan. 13.
