Moon Township, Pa. - Here are some observations about Robert Morris University from the National Invitation Tournament Season Tip-Off event held at the Charles L. Sewall Center Monday and Tuesday.

Or, if you will, NIT picking (and choosing) ...

Had there been a Most Valuable Player trophy awarded, RMU's Velton Jones would have won it hands down - and probably received the award while standing at the free-throw line.

It wasn't so much how many points Jones scored - he had a total of 31 in two games - as it was when he scored them.

In RMU's 71-60 victory over Bowling Green Monday night, the senior guard made 7-of-8 free-throw attempts in the final 5:14 to keep the Falcons at bay.

The next night, in a 71-62 win over Cleveland State, Jones was 6-for-6 from the stripe in the final 7:17, helping the Colonials do everything necessary to secure their third win in six games this season.

"It's always important to make free throws to try to extend the game, and that's what I tried to do, make free throws and help our team get a win,'' Jones said.

There's this, too.

Call it "Velton Time.'' It's something that seems to happen time after time after time.

It's the point in the game where Jones says, "OK, enough of this stuff. We're going to win - and I'm going to help us do that.''

As evidence, first look at what happened beginning with 5:43 left in the first half against Bowling Green. The Falcons led, 26-17, when "Velton Time'' happened.

In short order, Jones made a jumper in the lane. Then he made a steal in the BGSU frontcourt and followed with a spectacular 30-foot bounce pass to Anthony Myers-Pate for a fastbreak layup. Then he slipped a pass to Mike McFadden who turned that into a slam dunk. Finally, trapped in the lane, Jones pulled a "720'' and popped in a short jumper.

That flurry cut the Colonials' deficit to a point. They were back in the game.

"We weren't playing how we needed to play,'' Jones said. "We didn't have enough energy. I was able to make a couple plays and try to get my team energetic and get some life into us.''

It was "Velton Time'' again with 10 and-a-half minutes left in the Cleveland State game.

Jones took a pass from Russell Johnson and converted it into layup. Thirty seconds later, he fed McFadden for a dunk. Those plays expanded a one-point RMU lead into a five-point cushion. A bit later, Jones scored six points in a four-minute stretch - the last two on an off-balance jump hook from 10 feet - that gave the Colonials a 61-52 lead.

"I look at the score and I look at the time and notice that, 'All right. It's close. Now it's time to ratchet it up even more and help your team to a victory,''' Jones said. "You just have to do what you have to do.''

"I think he puts out extra effort when it gets close at the end,'' McFadden said. "He wants to make plays for the team.''

"He's so competitive,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "As much as sometimes he tries not to get as excited as he does, he just can't stop it from happening. You can see where he starts to look a little bit more aggressive, looks like he's a little more urgent, looks like he's preparing to catapult a little run for us. For four years here, we've seen him do this quite a number of times, and you can start to sense when you need to get the ball in his hands and give him a little bit of space or get him a ball screen and let him go and turn the corner and make a play or get fouled or whatever the case may be so we can either get something going or extend something or stop something they're doing.''

In addition to his 31 points in the two games, Jones had 10 assists and four steals. He was 16-of-17 from the free throw line.

That from a guy who as a freshman shot just 58.9 percent from the line.

"It's all about being confident when you get to the line,'' Jones said. "My early years, I wasn't as confident. I always wanted to go (to the line), but coach (Mike) and coach Toole didn't want me to. That's why I always used to get taken out. I wasn't confident at all. I wasn't ever afraid to go to the line. I was just less confident.''

Now?

"Now when I get to the line I just know it's going in,'' Jones said.

"He has an amazing amount of confidence,'' junior transfer Karvel Anderson said. "He feels he can do anything, and you can tell by the way he plays. When the game's on the line, he always wants the ball. You can tell when he goes to the line he feels he's going to make it. That's great confidence for him, and we have that same confidence in him.''

*******

In that fictional MVP voting, McFadden would have finished runner-up.

The 6'8" junior had a total of 27 points in the two games, was 11-for-16 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line and had nine rebounds.

McFadden's free throw accuracy might have been the most encouraging aspect of his game. Last season, he shot only 52.2 percent from the stripe. This season, he's 15-for-18.

Why? He began wearing contact lenses this season.

"And I've been working on it a lot, too,'' he said.

But the contacts have helped tremendously.

"It's my first time wearing contacts,'' McFadden said. "I knew I needed contacts. I tried contacts when I was in high school. It didn't work out for me, so I just gave up on it. I just continued to play basketball without them. I probably could have played better. (Everything) was blurry to me. A lot of layups I missed last year, I'm making them this year. Now, everything's clear.''

What also is clear is that McFadden's becoming a force inside for the Colonials.

"I don't know how much the vision has to do with it,'' Toole said. "I know in the spring and the summer Mike worked really hard on not only his back-to-the-basket game but also his face-up game. His free throw shooting has improved. He put in time. And when you put in time, the result is you're confident in what you're doing. And if you play with confidence, you're usually going to play better. I can't give him that confidence. He knows the truth - and the truth is, he put in work.

"And so we're making an effort to make sure he's getting his touches. His teammates see that he's put in the work and so they're much more comfortable throwing the ball inside to him and letting him do his thing. And they're also much more comfortable dropping it off to him and letting him go strong (to the basket) and finish. Mike has definitely put in the hard work and so he's being rewarded by his teammates.''

*******

The two NIT games helped Myers-Pate break out of an early season slump.

In the first four games, the junior guard scored a total of 12 points and made only 4-of-25 attempts from the field, including 1-for-14 from deep.

"I think he's pressing a little bit too much,'' Toole said a few days before the Bowling Green game. "I think he wants to shoot 100 percent and no one does that. When he misses one, he starts to think about it too much instead of trusting the work that he's put in - and he's put in a lot of work.''

Finally, that work paid dividends against Bowling Green and Cleveland State. In the two games, Myers-Pate made 7-of-12 field goal attempts and scored 16 points.

Especially against the Falcons, Myers-Pate seemed to make more an effort to drive the ball to the basket.

"Coach Byrnes pulled me to the side and told me, 'Stop thinking so much. Just do what you know how to do,''' Myers-Pate said. "That's what I did. I didn't think about it. I just made the plays I know how to make.''

"I think for him what it comes down to is him playing really hard,'' Toole said. "When he plays with energy and he plays hard, good things happen for him. He was just playing. When he thinks too much or tries to do specific things, that's not what his game is. (In the two games), he was really pressuring the ball (and) was involved around the rim and in loose balls. He not only finished plays, but he was also making plays on both ends of the floor.''

*******

Here's a shoutout to newcomers Vaughn Morgan and Stephan Hawkins. In the Cleveland State game, they combined for 10 points.

"They contributed,'' Toole said. "They definitely contributed. If they can continue to progress like that, by the time (Northeast Conference) play rolls around (in January) you have two guys who are really solid. They're going to continue to get chances.''

Morgan, the junior transfer from Perry Traditional Academy, scored four points, blocked four shots and had two steals against Cleveland State.

"I thought that was one of Vaughn's most solid efforts,'' Toole said. "I thought he did some good things in terms of effort that he hadn't done in some other games.''

*******

The Colonials resume play after Thanksgiving Monday night at Savannah State. The Tigers are 3-3 and play at home against Western Illinois Saturday afternoon.

Savannah State won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular-season championship with a 14-2 record last season but was upended by Hampton in the first round of the conference tournament, an event won by Norfolk State, which upset second-seeded Missouri in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers played in the NIT tournament and finished 21-12 after losing to Tennessee in the first round of that event.

Savannah State is coached by Horace Broadnax, a starter on Georgetown's 1984 NCAA championship team.

NOTES: RMU's win over Bowling Green raised Toole's record against Mid-American Conference (MAC) teams to 6-3 during his tenure as both a Colonial assistant and head coach. The Colonials play MAC toughie Ohio University Dec. 1 at the Sewall Center ... Alabama-Huntsville, a Division II power, was the fourth team at the Sewall Center in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament. The Chargers acquitted themselves well, holding decent-sized leads in their games against Cleveland State and Bowling Green before losing both, and became something of a fan favorite. Junior Conner Blasi stood out most for the Chargers, scoring a total of 33 points ... The Colonials against Bowling Green and Cleveland State were a combined 39-of-47 (82.9 percent) from the free-throw line. For the season, they're 107-of-133 (80.5 percent). Toole is a bit reluctant to discuss his team's good fortune from the stripe. "I'm just going to keep my mouth shut on that one and hope it continues,'' he said ... RMU's Lucky Jones had a combined 21 points and 14 rebounds against BGSU and CSU. Of special note, the sophomore went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 33 seconds against Cleveland State.