By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
March 5, 2011 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - Coron Williams, who knows a thing or three about shooting a basketball, could only shake his head admiringly.

"Terrific,'' he said.

Williams had just watched Velton Jones make 9-of-10 free throws, including his final five in the last 72 seconds, to almost single-handedly enable Robert Morris University hold off Wagner, 78-74, in a Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinal game at the Charles L. Sewall Center Thursday night.

"Nine of 10?'' Williams said. "That blows my mind.''

Wagner coach Dan Hurley, who knows a thing or two about shooting a basketball, was suitably impressed after watching Jones drop a career-high 29 points on his Seahawks.

"The difference in the game last (Saturday) was Williams,'' Hurley said, referring to the redshirt freshman's career-high 26-point performance. "The difference in (Thursday's) game was Velton Jones. He played great.''

Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole, who knows a thing or two about handling a basketball, was similarly impressed with Jones' spectacular all-around game that included six assists, three rebounds and two steals.

"Unbelievable,'' Toole said. "He was unbelievable. He was locked in from the shoot around to the entire (34) minutes he was on the floor. Whether it was making plays, making shots, playing defense, rebounding, leading, talking, he did everything. Those are the kinds of efforts you need in a playoff-type situation if you're going to try and survive.''

If you think all of this sounds as if Jones is the main reason the Colonials will play at Quinnipiac Sunday in the NEC Tournament semifinals, you've been paying rapt attention.

"I don't think it's crazy to say that if he doesn't play the way he played we don't win the game,'' Toole said. "He was an absolute monster.''

As focused as Jones was during the early-afternoon shoot around and the pregame warmup, he became even more locked in once the game began.

He scored the game's first points three minutes in with a three-pointer.

He drained another trey five minutes later.

"I just wanted to be aggressive,'' Jones said. "Once I saw a couple shots go in, I got even more aggressive and more went in and my confidence just went through the roof. I just tried to do whatever it took to help my team have a lead at the half.''

Jones certainly accomplished that goal.

At halftime, he had 14 points, including 4-for-4 shooting from international waters, three assists and a steal. Not surprisingly, the Colonials had a 38-21 lead at intermission.

"We wanted to take away the lane in the first half, and Velton went four for four from three,'' Hurley said. "A guy's shooting around 30 percent from three (this season), and he goes four for four.''

Jones had more in store than just those four.

Early in the second half, he drove the lane for a layup that pushed the Colonial lead to 41-21, RMU's largest of the evening.

After the Seahawks made a great run to pare their deficit to four points at 41-37, Jones helped the Colonials steady. He continued to score from inside the lane and dish from inside the lane and then he went to the line.

He scored his final nine points in the last 8:20 - seven of those coming from the free throw line.

Which further impressed Williams.

Asked if he could describe Jones' free throw shooting ability last season in one word, Williams said: "Horrific.''

Indeed.

Last season, Jones shot only 58.9 percent from the stripe.

However, he vowed before this season that he'd improve. Consider that accomplished.

This season, Jones is a 70.5 percent shooter from the free throw line. Over his past 25 games, he's shot 73.7 percent from the stripe. And over his past five games, he's shot 83.3 percent (25-of-30) from "free land.''

How has Jones done this?

"I changed my rotation a little bit and I just think about making the shot,'' he said. "Last year, I think I was worrying about too much other stuff during shooting the free throws, but now I just stick with the same rotation every time and just think it's going in every time.''

Jones made his last two free throws with 11 seconds left and the Colonials ahead, 74-72.

Seconds earlier, just before taking Russell Johnson's inbounds pass, Jones and Hurley made eye contact.

"We had a moment of looking at each other where I knew he was going to end up getting fouled and he knew he was going to get fouled and he looked at me like, 'I'm making two and there's nothing you can do about it,''' Hurley said. "And then he made two. That's what he's all about.''

Jones said only one thought went through his mind as he stood at the line before taking the first of those two shots.

"Make my foul shots,'' the redshirt sophomore from Philadelphia said. "That's all I was thinking about - just make my foul shots. My team depends on me to make plays and to do things. I'm the point guard. I'm supposed to make foul shots, and that's what I did.''

"He's the leader of the ship and he showed it,'' Williams said. "He's our captain. He made those big free throws down the stretch for us. I'm very happy with his free throw shooting. That gave us this win.''

As Hurley knew all too well.

"He's a Philly-tough kid,'' Hurley said. "He's the type of kid that I'm used to coaching or playing with. He's a really strong guard, very aggressive and very, very physical -- and he's very, very competitive. He's got self-belief.''

Hurley paused, thinking ahead to next season.

"We'll have a bunch of Velton Jones' next year,'' he said.

The Colonials next season will be more than happy to have the one Velton Jones they'll have. And they'll be pleased to have Williams back, too.

Williams impressively handled the challenge of knowing Hurley's defensive plan would center on him following last Saturday's 26-point gem in which he was 9-of-10 from the field, including 5-for-6 from deep, and 3-of-4 from the stripe.

In the rematch Thursday, Williams was 4-for-5 from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. He finished with 16 points and is averaging 16.5 points per game over his past four games. In that span, he's 13-for-18 from three-point range.

"They tried as hard as they possibly could to keep Coron Williams completely out of the game,'' Toole said. "To his credit, he continued to move and his teammates continued to look for him and when he was able to find an open shot he stepped up and he knocked it down. I've just looked at the minutes, and for him to play 38 minutes for us is an incredible testament to how hard he's worked throughout the course of the year. He's made such enormous strides from August until now, it's incredible. It's terrific for him and for his teammates.''

"C-Ron is a great shooter, and everyone's starting to see that now,'' Jones said.

Jones' eyebrow-raising spree Thursday against Wagner, which could have been the opening speech to an all-NEC campaign next season, was in stark contrast to his tepid showing at Wagner in the Colonials' 83-78 overtime loss Jan. 6. He played 23 minutes and managed to score only two points.

"He was non-existent,'' Toole said.

Toole and Jones together watched the film of that game a day or so later.

Neither said a word as the film wound. And neither said a word for 10 minutes after the film ended.

Finally, Toole said to Jones: "Grade yourself.''

"We'd been talking to him about leadership,'' Toole said. "He couldn't deny that he played poorly and he didn't lead and he wasn't himself energetically and all those kinds of things. He said, 'This is exhausting. Leading's exhausting.' I said, 'Tell me about it. You're preaching to the choir here. But what's your alternative?' And from that point, he's always tried to make the best decisions for his teammates and for his team's success.

"Velton's one of the most competitive kids we have, if not the most competitive kid. He cares deeply about this program, and so I know it hurts his pride every time we lose a game. He takes it completely to heart and he takes it as personally as you can when we lose a game. I think that's spurned him on to playing better, working harder, buying in more.''

Since that loss at Wagner, the Colonials are 12-4. And they'll take a seven-game winning streak with them to Quinnipiac, where they lost, 69-61, Jan. 27.

"We're playing a lot better (now),'' Jones said. "A lot better. We're playing together as a team. We're sharing the ball. We're playing good defense. We're not breaking down as much as we did before. We're following our formula.''

"We're playing with a lot more urgency,'' Toole said. "When we played at Quinnipiac, we were still trying to figure out what kind of team we were. Unfortunately, we'd think, 'We'll get into the game. We'll figure out how much effort we need to put forth and then we'll go from there.' That's not the way to play basketball -- at least successful basketball.

"(Thursday night against Wagner) we came out with a little bit of urgency. We came out with some intensity. We came out when the ball was thrown up to compete. At Quinnipiac, we were down 11-2 or whatever it was right off the bat and ended up losing the game by eight points. We broke that tape down and said, 'You guys think these first three possessions don't matter when you give up three straight threes? Well, guess what? You gave up three straight threes and we turn it over on the other end and we're down 9-0 and you lose the game by eight points. So from 17 minutes on you play them even, but since you don't play the first three minutes you lose the game.' I think now we have a little bit of a different mentality when it comes to stepping onto the floor and being prepared to compete.''

The Colonials also have a little bit of a different mentality when it comes to deciding what's a good shot since they made only 20 of their 60 field goal attempts against Central Connecticut State in an 80-58 loss at the Sewall Center Feb. 5.

"We've just continued to stress what's a good shot and what's not a good shot,'' Toole said. "After the Central Connecticut game, we re-defined what a good shot was. It wasn't just a shot where you were open. It was also a shot where you were open and you could make a high percentage. We've really stressed that it's OK to not shoot the ball in the first 15 seconds of the shot clock. Like the world's not going to come to an end if you make more than seven or eight passes in a possession.

"In fact, you'll probably increase your ability to get a good shot because the defense might wear down. You might create a situation late in the shot clock where you have a mismatch or the defense doesn't want to foul or they make a mistake.''

In their first 23 games, the Colonials shot over 50 percent from the field only three times. They've exceeded 50 percent three times during their seven-game winning streak. In those first 23 games, RMU shot 40.3 percent from the field. Over the past seven games, they've shot 48.4 percent.

"I think it's been a gradual process of showing them film, talking to them about what a good shot is, having them understand what's a good shot for them as individuals and then a good shot for our team,'' Toole said. "I wish it would have not taken as long, but I think we're going in the right direction and playing unselfishly when it comes to the offensive side of the floor, and we need to continue to do that if we want to continue to play our season.''

TOURNEY TIDBITS: In each of its three games against Wagner this season, the Colonials had a guard light it up against the Seahawks. On Jan. 6, Karon Abraham had a career-high 32 points. Last Saturday night, Williams had a career-high 26. Then along came Jones with his career-high 29 points Thursday night … Colonial senior Gary Wallace played in his 132nd career game Thursday night, the most games played in RMU history … It was also the 90th win for Wallace, matching the program record for wins by a class … Quinnipiac Thursday night spotted Mount St. Mary's an early 17-9 lead, then rallied to win, 78-59. Justin Rutty had 22 points and 16 rebounds for the Bobcats, who have seven straight games and 10 of their past 11 games.