Moon Township, Pa. - Feb. 17, 2009 - This could be the week that Robert Morris clinches the regular-season Northeast Conference championship.

Make that SHOULD be the week during which the Colonials clinch.

"We 'should', but that doesn't guarantee anything,'' junior guard Jimmy Langhurst said. "Anybody can get beat in the league. Look at the records. Everybody gets beat by everybody, so you have to bring it every night."

Well, you look at those records and you also find that hardly anybody has beaten Robert Morris this season.

The Colonials lost their NEC opener to St. Francis (N.Y.) Dec. 4 - the Stefan Perunicic Show - and that's it. Since then, they've won 13 consecutive NEC games to take a commanding two and-a-half game lead over Mount St. Mary's (11-4) with only four games left, including a tussle with the Mount, Feb. 28, in the regular-season finale.

That game will be rendered moot standings-wise if the Colonials take care of their business this week.

They can become the first NEC team to win back-to-back outright regular-season championships since Long Island in 1996-97 and 1997-98 by winning at Monmouth (4-10) Thursday night and Wagner (4-10).

Of course, a win Thursday night coupled with an improbable loss by Mount St. Mary's at Wagner Thursday night would accomplish the same thing.

In reality, the Colonials (19-8 overall) also can virtually clinch the No. 1 seed in the NEC tournament simply by winning Thursday night. Should they wind up in a tie with Mount St. Mary's at 14-4, the Colonials could be No. 1 because they own tie-breakers over the Mount in almost every possible scenario.

Robert Morris takes a bundle of momentum into Thursday night's game. It not only has that 13-game NEC winning streak, but it also has won a league-record 15 consecutive road NEC games.

Monmouth, on the other hand, has no momentum.

The injury-plagued Hawks have lost seven consecutive games, including last Saturday night's 72-62 decision against visiting Mount St. Mary's. The young Hawks are dangerously close to failing to qualify for the NEC tournament for the second time in the past three seasons.

"You never want to be in this position,'' Monmouth coach Dave Calloway told the Asbury Park Press. "We are, so you just work your way through it.''

Earlier in this decade, Monmouth was a fixture in the NEC tournament. The Hawks had a six-season run in which they were 80-32 during the regular season, finishing no lower than fourth. They won one outright NEC regular-season title, shared another and three times advanced to the NCAA tournament.

However, a late-season slide in 2006-07 began the Hawks' slide from dominance to dormant. They lost five of their last six games that season and were 4-14 in the NEC last season. Counting this season's 4-10 mark, Monmouth has lost 29 of its past 38 league games.

Calloway this season has been forced to rely on three freshmen down the stretch because injuries decimated his team - beginning with the loss of standout point guard Whitney Coleman in the season opener.

Calloway thinks the future is promising because of freshmen Travis Taylor, Will Campbell and Michael Myers Keitt, who combined for 49 points in last Saturday's loss to Mount St. Mary's.

"The future looks good,'' said Calloway, who will have Coleman back next season. "We had a good run for a while and then we've had a little rebuilding process for a couple years. But I'm excited about the future.''

Robert Morris defeated Monmouth 75-62 in the Sewall Center Jan. 31.

"I thought they played harder and with more purpose than any time (in January),'' RMU coach Mike Rice said of the Hawks. "I thought they came out with tremendous intensity, tremendous energy. They're going to be good in the future.''

The youthful Hawks think they learned a little about that in the loss to Mount St. Mary's, a veteran team that won the NEC tournament last season.

"You learn that you've got to be tough,'' Keitt said. "They know what toughness is at this level.''

"(The Mountaineers) go for layups and you hit them and they're still finishing layups,'' Campbell said. "They're strong and athletic.''

Wagner also has hit the skids recently. The Seahawks started 2-1 in the NEC this season but have lost nine of 11 since. That includes a 74-48 loss at Long Island (9-5) last Saturday that left coach Mike Deane a bit perplexed.

"We had no competitive juices in an important game,'' he told the Staten Island Advance. "It's something that happens to teams on occasion, but it's happened to this one too many times and I have no idea why.''

Wagner's point total was a season low. It shot just 27 percent from the field. And it was outrebounded, 58-32.

"Their pressure defense bothered us, and our guys started going one-on-one,'' Deane said. "We didn't execute any offense.''

Last season, Wagner finished 23-8 overall and 15-3 in the NEC, good for the No. 2 seed. This season, the Seahawks, like Monmouth, will have trouble making the tournament field.

"The tournament bid is for the fans and media to worry about,'' Deane said. "My concern is playing better.''

Robert Morris (26-8, 16-2 last season) has had little trouble following its success of a year ago.

"I have a confident bunch and a skilled bunch,'' Rice said. "They've been successful, so they have a confidence about them.''

As evidence, Rice cited his team's demeanor near the end of the Colonials' 69-64 win against visiting Quinnipiac, which led 63-60 with three minutes left.

"I didn't see many nervous eyes or jittery people,'' Rice said. "They remained poised and played with a purpose at the end. I think that's a product of winning previous close basketball games. They have a lot of confidence in our best players - our leaders - to make plays at the end.''

Among the many reasons why the Colonials beat Quinnipiac is the defensive job they did against Bobcat center Justin Rutty. The 6'7" sophomore entered the game averaging 15.6 points and 9.5 rebounds a game, but he scored only three points and had five rebounds before fouling out with 18 seconds left.

"This is a young man who's tremendously skilled and who's going to be a force in the league,'' Rice said, "but he definitely does have a tendency to dribble before he shoots. Rob Robinson did a tremendous job of pushing him off the block two more feet than he likes, and that allowed our perimeter defenders to go down and dig and kind of be annoying and sometimes steal the ball.''

Robinson also contributed mightily at the offensive end, scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. That effort helped earn the junior this week's NEC Player of the Week award.

Dallas Green also deserves a mention for his performance against Quinnipiac. The junior was 3-of-4 from the field, 3-of-4 from the free throw line and had three rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

"He's our ultimate glue guy,'' Rice said.

Said Robinson of Green: "He's not a great scorer. He's not a great rebounder. He just does everything hard - does everything as well as he can.''

Jeremy Chappell had a good evening, too. The senior had 17 points, six rebounds and - significantly - two steals. Those two thefts raised his career total to 250 and completed an amazing career stat line. Chappell is the only NEC player in history to amass at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 steals and 200 three-point field goals.

Again, let's hear from Robinson: "Coach Rice was telling me before I signed that Jeremy can do it all, and he's made me a believer since I've been here.''

Quinnipiac (7-7) also should get a mention here.

"That's a ball club that's going to be a difficult 'out' in the tournament,'' Rice said. "Defensively, I thought they were very good. And their offense is very deliberate, so they always have good floor balance. They don't take random, indiscriminant shots.''

The Colonials, who beat Sacred Heart 85-79 two nights earlier, felt pretty good about themselves after winning two close games.

"I think this was good for us,'' Chappell said. "We had to grind. We buckled down at the end and that really helped us to see that we could finish a game. I think everybody's bought into knowing there's no point in giving up.''

NEC NUGGETS

The Colonials are 43-12 at home over the past four seasons. They've also won at least 10 home games in each of the past four seasons, the longest such stretch in their history ...  Wagner has lost five NEC games by 10 points or more - including a 104-56 blowout at RMU Jan. 17 - but also has lost three NEC games by four points or less ... Monmouth is 10th in the league in scoring offense (62.3 points per game in league play) and rebounding (minus-3.9 per game) and 11th in field goal percentage (40.5).