Maximum Effort: Colonials Stifle Bobcats with Defensive Pressure

By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
March 9, 2009

Meyer On Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - March 9, 2009 - It was, of course, Jeremy Chappell's show at the Sewall Center Sunday.

The Northeast Conference Player of the Year scored a game-high 25 points, had a team-high eight rebounds and handed out three assists.

The senior guard had 17 points in the first half, helping Robert Morris construct a 40-27 lead over Quinnipiac in an NEC tournament semifinal game. In the second half, he scored eight points in a four-minute burst that pushed the Colonials' lead to 71-39 with 5:08 left.

"He was immense,'' Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore said. "He played like you would expect a senior Player of the Year to play in this (situation). He played great offense. He played great defense. He made open shots. He was on the floor for a couple of loose balls. He had great enthusiasm, great energy. He was terrific.''

However, there also were a couple noteworthy guest appearances during this most recent Chappell Show.

Take Bateko Francisco's act early in the game.

Applying great pressure on Quinnipiac point guard James Johnson, Francisco drew a charge on the freshman just over three minutes into the game. Francisco immediately jumped to his feet, clapped his hands and right there set the tone defensively for the rest of the afternoon.

"I just love it,'' said Francisco, the NEC Defensive Player of the Year. "When I can help my team that way, it's just like a slam dunk for me.''

There was another slam dunk in the second half that also drew great attention - from the crowd of Robert Morris fans who appreciated it and from Robert Morris coach Mike Rice, who did not.

With just under 12 minutes to play, Dallas Green made a steal and pushed the ball ahead to guard Jimmy Langhurst. Langhurst had an uncontested layup, but he knew teammate Rob Robinson was trailing him just a bit.

Langhurst gave Robinson eye contact.

"It's kind of a little connection we have,'' Langhurst said. "I've done it in practice. I said, 'Backboard. Backboard.'''

Robinson's eyes opened wide. So did Rice's. He knew what was coming.

"I just tossed it up there (off the glass) and let my man jump,'' said Langhurst, who knew he'd draw Rice's ire when he put the ball up for Robinson. "I like to reward the big men. If they run, I want to give them the ball as a reward.''

Robinson slammed the ball through the basket as he was fouled by Johnson, boosting RMU's lead to 53-35.

The stoppage for the upcoming free throw enabled officials to call a media timeout - and that enabled Rice to vent.

After a few seconds, that is.

The coach, who didn't like the highlight reel play with his team holding a sizable lead, paced angrily on the court before addressing Langhurst in the huddle.

"I can't repeat it,'' Langhurst said of Rice's message.

"It was explicit,'' Chappell said with a smile.

"I still have yet to get over that play,'' Rice said after the game. "I'm not hip enough apparently. I'm not cool enough. 'Unbelievable' is the term I'd use for that. (CBS commentator Bill) Raftery would call it 'onions.' (Langhurst) had tremendous 'onions' because he knows what I'll do to him if he does it.

"I appreciate his toughness. I appreciate -- maybe -- the style, but March doesn't care that you make a pretty play in it. March doesn't care if you have the leading scorer or Coach of the Year. We found that out last year. You have to have toughness, substance.''

Rice paused, then brightened a bit.

"(The players) told me in the huddle I was bitter and mad because I never made that athletic of a play or was that creative,'' he said.

Could be.

While that play did excite the crowd - not to mention Langhurst and Robinson - the game at that point was pretty much decided because of the Colonials' steady production offensively and the stifling defense they played against the Bobcats.

After James Feldeine's basket with 2:07 left in the first half cut the Colonial lead to 34-27, Robert Morris methodically took the Bobcats out of the game. Over the next 17 minutes, RMU outscored Quinnipiac 37-12.

"Robert Morris was brilliant -- absolutely brilliant,'' Moore said. "In my two short years in this league, it's the best and most complete performance a team has thrown at us by far.''

The top-seeded Colonials (23-10) shot 58.8 percent from the field, including 63.6 percent in the second half. And they limited the Bobcats to 33.3 percent shooting from the field, including 20.8 percent in the second half.

"I thought they were terrific defensively individually on the ball and collectively with their team defense,'' Moore said. "As disappointed as I am in my performance as an offensive coach today I'm that impressed with how hungry they were defensively.

"Everything they got was a product of how hard they played and how well they played. I thought Bateko set a great standard for them defensively early in the game with how he attacked our point guard and really took us out of any offensive flow. Almost single-handedly, I felt, he stripped our offensive confidence early in the game. He's a fantastic defender.''

"I think they frustrated us more than anything,'' Feldeine said. "They just harassed us with full-court pressure. We were ready for it, but we have a freshman point guard. At first he wasn't ready, but then he calmed down. We had a lot of turnovers because of their pressure. They just wore us down at the beginning of the second half. They competed harder than us most of the time.''

"I think we wore them down in the second half,'' Langhurst said. "I think we had more legs, fresher legs. They didn't have that on their side.''

"Their legs were not as quick as they usually are,'' Rice said. "But you take into account them playing at a tough Long Island and going to overtime (last Thursday night) and having to travel.''

Still ...

"We scored five baskets in the second half - five baskets,'' Moore said. "I mean, that's a statement.''

A statement of what?

"That we're ready to win an NEC championship,'' Rice said. "That we understand what it takes to win an NEC championship.''

The Colonials get that opportunity Wednesday night when they play arch-rival Mount St. Mary's (19-12) in the Sewall Center at 8:30 (ESPN2).

Mount St. Mary's, which ousted the Colonials in the previous two NEC tournaments, defeated visiting Sacred Heart, 68-63, Sunday night.

The second-seeded Mountaineers shut down a hot-shooting Sacred Heart team in the second half - the Pioneers shot only 39 percent in the final 20 minutes - while playing much of that segment as foul-plagued junior point guard Jeremy Goode sat on the bench.

Goode, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half, picked up three fouls - including one on a double-technical foul with Sacred Heart guard Chauncey Hardy - in a matter of seconds early in the second half.

"I've never got three fouls in five seconds in my life,'' Goode told the Carroll County Times. "I've never seen that happen as long as I've been playing basketball.''

Shooting guard Jean Cajou moved over to the point during Goode's extended absence and helped the Mountaineers outscore Sacred Heart 15-7 in a key 10-minute stretch.

"I know what to do, how to control the game and how to lead my team,'' said Cajou, a sophomore who had no turnovers in 32 minutes.

Mount St. Mary's received a total of 23 points off the bench from Shawn Atupem (12) and Will Holland (11) and outscored the Pioneer bench 27-7 overall.

Sacred Heart, which played in the previous two NEC championship games, was just 2 of 7 from beyond the arc in the second half. The Pioneers, the second-best free throw shooting team in NEC games (72.1 percent) made only 8-of-14 foul shots in the game.

BEST LAID PLANS ...

One of the Colonials' goals against Quinnipiac was to keep rugged Bobcat post player Justin Rutty off the glass.

That didn't work out too well.

Rutty had a game-high 14 rebounds - seven on the offensive glass.

"We tried our best,'' Colonial forward Dallas Green said. "He's a pretty good player. It's like going through a brick wall every time (trying to stop him). He's going at full speed every possession. He doesn't stop at all.''

The Bobcats outrebounded RMU, 35-21, which normally would have put them in pretty good shape.

"But they also shot really well from the floor,'' Rutty said. "It just seemed like they were making everything.''

WATCH OUT FOR THE BOBCATS

Quinnipiac, which finished fifth in the NEC and 15-16 overall this season, loses only two seniors - forward Louis Brookins and guard Bryan Geffen - and should be a contender for the NEC title next season.

"We hope to be,'' Moore said. (The semifinal game against RMU) notwithstanding, I'm very, very, very, very proud of what this team accomplished this year in light of what we were dealt.''

The Bobcats struggled with a spate of injuries.

"Somebody had a stat that we had about 60 percent of our scholarship availability,'' Moore said. "We were able to win seven of our last 10 games (before Sunday). This will be one of my favorite teams I'll ever be associated with because of the amount of growth they had within one year. Where Robert Morris is (now), we hope to be in the future. And when we get there, this (season's) team will have done a lot to get us there.''