Meyer on Morris Link
 
Moon Township, Pa. - Dec. 18, 2013 - Amazing! 

Who knew that all it would take for the Robert Morris Colonials to get over the hump was to go up to The Bluff.

Now that the Colonials have gotten over the hump, the Camels are next.

How fitting.

Robert Morris ended its five-game losing streak, as well as its unwanted streak of having allowed at least 80 points in seven consecutive games, with a 67-63 victory at Duquesne last Saturday afternoon.

"Great team effort,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Our guys made play after play when they needed to be made.''

Thus, the Colonials will take a 4-7 record into their game with Campbell University tonight at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

The win at Duquesne, RMU's fourth straight over the Dukes, was a much more Colonial-like victory.

"Low-scoring, half-court, grind-out possessions,'' Toole said.

In short, the kind of games the Colonials have almost always played under Toole's tutelage.

With the exception that for the second straight game the Colonials played a 2-3 zone rather than their trademark man-to-man defense.
"It's been effective in two games for us,'' Toole said. "It was able to keep the game at our speed rather than their speed. We'll see what we're going to do going forward. We might mix it up depending on the team. We've been selling it like crazy. It's something we might have to utilize at times to keep teams at bay, keep teams off balance a little bit. At times (playing a zone) you feel like you're getting attacked. In a man, you're attacking. But if we play (the zone) properly, it can be as attacking as a man.''

The Colonials limited Duquesne to 38.6 percent shooting from the field, a figure that's much more in line with Toole's defensive goals.

"We gave them some looks that were a little bit different,'' Toole said.

Toole was heartened by the play of some of his bench players – something that had been missing.

"We got so many contributions,'' Toole said. "That's what we need. Without the way Aaron Tate and Charles Oliver played and the way Dave Appolon played in the first half, we don't even come close.''

Oliver, a junior college transfer, scored all 10 of his points in the second half. He was especially contributory in a two-minute spurt midway through the half, making a pair of three-pointers and another field goal that expanded a 46-44 Colonial lead into a 54-48 edge.

"He was active. He was alert,'' Toole said. "We know he can make shots. We've just got to get him comfortable in other aspects of the game.''

Once again, freshman Kavon Stewart played the most minutes off the bench. In his 18 minutes, the point guard scored four points and had three assists.

Senior point guard Anthony Myers-Pate had five assists and, more importantly, no turnovers while scoring 10 points. He made both of his three-point attempts.

"Simple stuff,'' Toole said. "He got his feet set and went up rather than shooting on the move.''

Freshman Jeremiah Worthem continued his recent strong play with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists.

"He has great length and great instincts,'' Toole said. "He's like Lucky.''

Lucky is Lucky Jones. The junior had an off game shooting-wise, but he supplied 11 rebounds.

"We got on him after the Toledo game (Dec. 7) and 'politely' reminded him about what an important piece in the zone he is for us as the weak-side forward,'' Toole said. "He has to be huge.''

And he was against Duquesne.

"Lucky has just gotten better and better and better every single year,'' Duquesne coach Jim Ferry told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Senior Karvel Anderson led the Colonials at Duquesne with 17 points and made the clinching free throw with four seconds remaining. Anderson leads RMU with an average of 18.5 points per game and is shooting 47.6 percent from international waters.

"What Karvel has been doing is just phenomenal,'' Ferry said.

What Anderson has done at home this season is beyond phenomenal. In three games at the Sewall Center, he's scored 68 points and shot 70.6 percent (24-for-34) from the field and a spectacular 75 percent (18-for-24) from beyond the arc.

RMU's game against the Camels will be its last at the Sewall Center until Jan. 16.

Campbell, out of the Big South Conference, is 4-6 and has lost its past three games. Its most recent defeat was an 80-68 decision at Loyola (Ill.) last Friday night. The Camels led, 31-30, at halftime, but Loyola shot 60 percent (15-for-25) from the field in the second half to keep Campbell in the soup.

"I thought we competed, and that was really our biggest point of emphasis over the last couple of days of practice,'' said first-year Camel coach Kevin McGeehan, who took the Campbell job after serving as associate head coach at the University of Richmond. "If we could have put two halves together, it might have been a different story.''

Robert Morris won at Campbell last season, 61-58. Anderson made two three-pointers in the final minute, including a trey with 4.5 seconds left to win it. Jones led the Colonials in that game with 15 points, making 11-of-14 free throw attempts, five rebounds and five steals. Anderson had 13 points. Mike McFadden had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Campbell, which finished 13-20 last season, including 7-9 in the Big South, is led this season by 6'9'' junior Darius Leonard, who averages 12.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Andrew Ryan, a 6'5" junior, averages 11.7 points per game and is shooting 45.3 percent from deep.

The Camels average 65 points per game. They've shot just 62.4 percent from the free throw line.

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