By Paul Meyer
www.RMUColonials.com
Feb. 26, 2013

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - One might glance at the rather decisive margin of victory in Robert Morris University's 89-46 thumping of Fairleigh Dickinson last Saturday night and think there couldn't possibly have been even one second of anxiety for the Colonials on Senior Night.

One would be wrong.

There was some anxiety. About 223 seconds of it.

Well, given the context, maybe "anxiety'' is more accurate.

But whatever, there was pressure present.

"For me, it was a little stressful,'' senior Shane Sweigart said.

"It was wild,'' fellow senior Treadwell Lewis said.

The issue was whether either, or both, of the walk-ons would make a field goal in the frantic waning moments of the blowout and thus make Senior Night a total "How about that!'' success.

Alas.

Lewis (seven) and Sweigart (two) launched a total of nine shots in the final 3:43 but none connected, leaving the second-largest crowd (1,623) at the Charles L. Sewall Center this season just a bit dismayed.

But only a bit.

"I wish they'd have made a shot,'' fellow senior Russell Johnson said. "It would have been a lot more exciting. But Senior Night was great.''

"It was pretty exciting for me,'' said Sweigart, a Harrisburg product who also played lacrosse at RMU. "Playing another Division I sport, it was a dream come true, really. You (media) guys saw me complete a childhood dream tonight. That's the best way I could sum it up.''

"It was amazing,'' said Lewis, who's from Shelton, Conn. "Packed house in front of family and friends who have known me here the last four years or my whole life. It just meant a lot after all the hard work in practices and things you put into it to finally get out there. To have a chance like that, I can't express it in words. It was awesome.''

It wasn't as if it were a total shutout for the walk-ons. Lewis did score - but we'll get to that.

The most impactful moment of the evening was that Lewis and Sweigart made their first, and almost certainly only, collegiate starts alongside more celebrated classmates Johnson and Velton Jones.

"It was a great thing,'' Jones said. "They've put in so much work for us throughout the years they've been here. It was a great thing for them to get rewarded like that. I wouldn't have missed this at all.''

Jones didn't play in either of the previous two games because of a shoulder injury that has bothered him for much of the past five weeks.

RMU coach Andrew Toole, whose team leads the Northeast Conference with one weekend left in the regular season and is trying to get the top seed in the NEC Tournament, said he and his staff began discussing the possibility of starting Lewis and Sweigart on Senior Night well before last weekend.

"Coming into this week I talked to Velton and I talked to Russell early in the week and just kind of ran it by them, just like, 'What do you think?''' Toole said. "Those guys were unanimous in their support of it, and then I think I had made up my mind probably Tuesday or Wednesday because I just think both those guys earned it. It wasn't a hard decision. They'd earned it -- Treadwell over a four-year span and Shane over a two-year span -- and I think the guys respect them so much. Even Lucky (Jones) came up to me at practice (Friday) and said, 'Coach, are Treadwell and Shane going to start? I don't need to start.' It was a nice gesture on his part, and I think all of our guys at shoot-around (Saturday) when we announced they were going to start were genuinely happy for both those guys. It was a deserved honor.''

Lewis and Sweigart drew loud ovations when they were announced as starters during the pregame introductions. And then there was an even louder cheer barely two seconds after the tipoff.

The Colonials controlled the tip, and Johnson fed Lewis for a drive down the left side of the lane.

"It wasn't a set play right off the tip,'' Lewis said. "I thank Russ for passing it to me. ''

Lewis was fouled by FDU's Melquan Bolding and went to the free-throw line.

Lewis promptly drained the first of his two shots - like he'd been doing this for 30 minutes a game for four seasons instead of being a career 1-for-4 free throw shooter before Saturday night.

"It felt good,'' he said. "A sigh of relief a little bit. It felt good to make one. That was really exciting.''

"I thought I was watching 'Rudy,''' Toole said, referring to the movie about the walk-on Notre Dame football player. "It was surreal. I said to somebody on the bench, 'He's going to make these two free throws and then all of a sudden everyone's going to ask me why is he not playing more?'''

Lewis did miss his second free throw, but he was in the scoresheet - again. The made free throw raised his career point total to 10, meaning he'll "retire'' as a double-figure scorer as a collegian.

Lewis and Sweigart remained in the game for almost 90 seconds before being subbed out.

"I was actually shocked that (Toole) let us run up and down with them a little bit,'' Johnson said. "It surprised me. I thought, 'Hey, let's just what we do. They've been here long enough. They know what we have to do.'''

The Colonials did trail, 5-1, by the time Toole replaced Lewis and Sweigart with Lucky Jones and Coron Williams.

"I was trying to go about a minute and a half, two minutes,'' Toole said of the time allotted to Lewis and Sweigart after the opening tip. "Give them an opportunity to get up and down and actually get into the flow of the game, but (concentrate on) the most important thing -- getting the victory.''

That did not prove overly difficult against an FDU team that has now lost 13 consecutive games and is out of contention for a spot in the NEC Tournament. The Colonials burst from a slim 17-15 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half and led, 44-25, at the break.

The Colonials soon built a lead of 30-plus points in the second half. The Knights were done.

"I think there was a certain point when we got a number of different stops in a row and you could just see it in their faces that they were getting broken down,'' Lewis said. "We just turned it up. We were getting hot, making threes, and we just went from there.''

The only remaining question was when would Toole put Lewis and Sweigart back on the floor to help finish off the Colonials' 20th victory.

The answer was: With just under five minutes left. As soon as Lewis and Sweigart headed for the scorer's table to report in, the fans began to roar in appreciation. During a break with 4:32 left, the fans continued to cheer as Lewis and Sweigart stepped back onto the floor - and Jones and Russell stepped off for the final time in a regular season game at the Sewall Center.

"As far as how (the crowd) responded, it was just amazing,'' Lewis said. "I don't know how it started when I was a freshman, but I just feel really privileged and honored that they support me the way they do. It's just an honor. It's amazing.''

"You know you're not going to get too many opportunities, so there's an extra bit of pressure there to try and make a shot,'' Sweigart said. "But at the end of the day, we play with these guys every day (in practice). It was just fun to be out there. I couldn't ask for more.''

"Because you (only) have a couple possessions to try to make a shot, sometimes you just shoot up crazy shots when you're trying to put something in - shots you wouldn't normally take,'' Lewis said. "But it was great -- definitely a lot of feelings, a lot of emotions. It was great to get out there. And I love when I can make one for all the (Colonial) Crazies and everybody else in the building.''

The Colonial Crazies certainly didn't mind that Lewis didn't make a field goal Saturday night. They cheered him loud and long.

"It was great for him,'' Toole said. "I was really, really happy for him. It was exciting. Even at the end of the game the crowd support for him to try and get a basket was terrific. I just think it shows the affect he's had on the student body and the overall campus community during his time here. Not many people would get that type of reception, and I think it speaks to the kind of person Treadwell is.''

As the final seconds wound down, the Colonial Crazies struck up a chant: "Thank You, Seniors! Thank You, Seniors!''

"It was great,'' Johnson said. "It was great. We love it when the fans come out like that and support us. And when they come out, we're going to try to give them what they want.''

The Colonials certainly did on Senior Night.

They led comfortably, and then some, for much of the game. They got that aforementioned 20th victory. They remained in first place in the NEC with their 12th victory in a 14-game span. They outrebounded FDU by a staggering 56-27 margin.

Velton Jones scored 20 points while playing only 19 minutes. Johnson had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Mike McFadden scored 15 points and didn't miss a shot. He was seven of seven from the field and made his only free throw attempt. Karvel Anderson contributed 11 points.

And throughout, the fans cheered for Treadwell Lewis and Shane Sweigart when they were on the floor or cheered for them to get back onto the floor.

"I thought it was a terrific all-around effort,'' Toole said. "I thought our guys handled the emotion of Senior Night extremely well and had good balance between being excited and energetic and flying around and not going over the top. I thought we did a really nice job defensively, especially in the second half where in the past we've gotten somewhat lackadaisical with our details. We continued to defend and try and defend the way we work on each and every day. I thought it was a great send-off for our seniors.''

That said, Toole conceded he felt some relief now that Senior Night is done.

"Very much so,'' he said. "I think it's fun for the players. I don't know how much fun it is for the coaches. Some of the emotions you have for those guys on Senior Night, honoring those seniors, you get into a situation where you have a big lead and you're trying to make sure that you're playing the right way, not creating bad habits. And, you know, you never want to be on the other side of that as a coach (as was FDU coach Greg Vetrone Saturday night). We've been beaten bad before, and it's never a place that you want to be. The guys enjoy it. The guys have fun with it. But from a coaching standpoint, I don't think it's as enjoyable as it looked.''

UP NEXT: The Colonials have a huge NEC game at Bryant Thursday night. The Bulldogs, who led the NEC for the first six weeks of the conference schedule, lost for third time in four games Saturday, bowing at Quinnipiac, 69-58. Bryant, which leads the NEC in field goal percentage at over 50 percent, shot just 39.7 percent from the floor and made only five of 23 attempts from beyond the arc.

Frankie Dobbs led the Bulldogs with 15 points, and Dyami Starks added 11, but he was just 2-of-9 from deep. Ike Azotam and Shaq Shannon each scored 16 points to help the Bobcats win their sixth straight game.

NEC NUGGETS: Johnson raised his career point total to 1,125 with his 10 points against FDU. That puts him 16th on RMU's all-time scoring list. Vaughn Luton (1986-89) is 15th with 1,134 points. Johnson has 715 career rebounds. He's third on that all-time list. Anthony Dickens (1985-1990) and Tony Lee (2004-08) finished with 751 rebounds apiece ... Lewis has played a total of 43 minutes in his RMU career. He's played his most career minutes (13 in five games) against FDU ... Saturday night's attendance was second only to the 2,093 who witnessed RMU's 91-69 win against Duquesne at the Sewall Center Dec. 15 ... Mount St. Mary's continued to roll Saturday, beating visiting St. Francis Brooklyn, 73-65, for its fifth consecutive win. Julian Norfleet scored a career-high 25 points for the Mountaineers ... Ben Mockford, who was 6-for-9 from international waters, led the Terriers with 29 points ... Central Connecticut State pulled away from host Sacred Heart in the final two minutes and won, 80-72. Kyle Vinales sparked the Blue Devils' late surge and finished with 28 points. Teammates Joe Efese came off the bench for 21 points, hitting 9-of-11 field goal attempts. Shane Gibson (5-of-13 from deep) and Steve Glowiak each scored 21 points for Sacred Heart, while point guard Phil Gaetano had 10 assists ... Saint Francis University knocked visiting Monmouth out of contention for an NEC Tournament berth with a 70-68 win. Anthony Ervin had 19 points for the Red Flash, which made 11-of-23 from beyond the arc ... In a rare Sunday night NEC game, host Wagner survived LIU Brooklyn's frantic comeback in the final two minutes and won, 94-92. The Seahawks led, 88-78, with 2:06 left but needed a Kenny Ortiz put-back with less than a second remaining to secure the win. Jason Brickman, LIU Brooklyn's standout point guard, tied the game with a three with 13 seconds remaining but also had 10 turnovers. Wagner swept LIU Brooklyn this season, the first time the Blackbirds have been swept in a season series since Quinnipiac did it to them in the 2008-09 season.