Moon Township, Pa. - Here's the initial reaction to Robert Morris University win at Bryant Thursday night: The NEC road to the NCAA Tournament runs through RMU.
Translation? The Colonials won the Northeast Conference regular-season championship Thursday night.
That means RMU will play all its NEC Tournament games at the Charles L. Sewall Center as it tries to win a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five seasons.
If they come up short in that effort, they're guaranteed a spot in the National Invitation Tournament, or NIT, if you prefer.
So Friday was time for a little R&R.
The Colonials, as has been their norm the past four weeks or so, had a light practice at Central Connecticut State, doing a walk-through of the Blue Devils' sets and shooting some free throws.
"Obviously, the guys are drained a little bit,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said Friday morning. "We'll be smart about how we practice.''
Then there would be time to savor what they accomplished at Bryant.
That 77-75 victory, achieved against the backdrop of a noisy and jam-packed Chace Athletic Center, raised RMU's overall record to 21-9, including 13-4 in the NEC.
"I'm extremely proud of our guys,'' Toole said. "I'm one of the people who believes winning the regular-season championship is a terrific accomplishment. To be the regular-season champion takes a lot of effort. You have to go through a ton of ups and downs, like we did. It's awesome. It's something to be celebrated.''
The Bryant fans were in a mood to celebrate when Thursday night's game tipped. A sellout crowd of 2,680 filled the gym. The local fire marshal had to close the doors to prevent more people from gaining entrance.
"It was raucous,'' Toole said of the atmosphere. "There were probably 1,500 or 1,800 students across from our bench. They were singing, dancing, screaming, yelling.''
In that kind of atmosphere, the home team sometimes can get out to a big, early lead.
"I was worried about that a little,'' Toole said. "I was worried about them getting a 10-point lead, or our guys being over-anxious and trying to shut (the crowd) up in two seconds.''
Neither thing happened.
After Velton Jones made the game's first field goal to give RMU a 2-0 lead 18 seconds in, the Bulldogs grabbed a narrow lead which they maintained for much of the first half while the Colonials lingered around.
Eventually, though, Bryant built a 37-28 lead with 45 seconds left in the first half. Not good for the Colonials, who before Thursday night were 0-9 this season when they trailed at halftime.
But then Jones made the first of a bunch of big baskets that carried RMU to the win.
With three seconds left in the first half, Jones drained a trey, and the Colonials went into halftime down six points but with some momentum.
"Huge,'' Toole said. "He banked it in. It was an enormous basket.''
At the break, there was also an enormous disparity in free throws attempted by the teams. The Colonials shot one free throw in the first half, which was no good, while Bryant had 18 attempts and made 15.
That difference really didn't change much in the second half. The Colonials finished 8-for-10 from the free-throw line, while Bryant was 24-of-31 from the chalk.
The Colonials played through that, however. One reason they were able to do that was their almost perfect ball handling. Robert Morris had only two turnovers Thursday night - one in each half. Bryant had 16.
"Amazing,'' Toole said of the Colonials incredibly low turnover total. "(Bryant) played a lot of zone (defense), which helped us. But our guys were really sharp. We had the ball in the hands of Velton and Russell (Johnson) and (Anthony Myers-Pate) a lot. Those are guys we trust very much.''
In the second half, the Colonials made big shot after big shot. Those makes came from almost everybody on the team, but Karvel Anderson and Lucky Jones stood out.
Two threes by Anderson tied the game at 54 with 8:41 left.
Two threes by Lucky Jones put RMU up, 67-62, with 3:34 left.
A layup by Lucky Jones off an offensive rebound made it 71-66 with 61 seconds left.
Another three by Anderson just before the shot clock expired gave the Colonials a 74-69 edge with 19 seconds left.
And two free throws by Lucky Jones made it 76-71 with nine seconds left.
"Unbelievable game,'' Toole said. "They all made great plays. And I thought we wore (the Bulldogs) down a little bit. They looked a little tired at the end.''
Maybe because the Bulldogs had to play a rescheduled game against Sacred Heart last Monday and thus played four games in eight nights.
"Could have been the extra game,'' Toole said. "I don't know.''
Anderson finished with 24 points, 17 of which came in the second half.
"He really settled down in the second half,'' Toole said. "A marvelous performance.''
Lucky Jones had 17 points, including 12 in the final 5:46.
"In the second half, he was awesome,'' Toole said.
Let's also not forget sophomore Keith Armstrong, who in the previous four games played a total of 10 minutes.
Against Bryant, Armstrong played 17 minutes because junior Mike McFadden was in foul trouble and freshman Stephan Hawkins seemed a bit unsure of himself in the highly emotional atmosphere. Armstrong scored four points, grabbed two rebounds, made a steal and took two charges.
"Without him, we don't win,'' Toole said, noting Armstrong's solid defensive play. "He really, really helped us. He was huge. He got his chance, and he was great. Tremendous. Completely invaluable.''
All in all, a genuinely neat win by the Colonials, who didn't use any of their allotted timeouts.
"They were unbelievably terrific to coach (at Bryant),'' Toole said. "They were focused. (In the media timeouts), guys were engaged. Guys were communicating. They were talking to each other about the right things. I'm very proud of them.''
UP NEXT: RMU's game at Central Connecticut State today was moved up for television and is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. rather than at the original starting time of 3:30 p.m.
Toole planned to talk to Velton Jones (shoulder) and Anderson (wrist) about how much, or how little, they'll play Saturday.
"We'll talk about how they feel and what they want to do,'' Toole said. "I'll probably sub a little bit freer.''
Not that the Colonials are taking the CCSU game a bit lightly.
"They keep score,'' Toole said. "We might as well try to win.''
The Blue Devils could be a bit fatigued Saturday. Saint Francis University extended them through two overtimes Thursday night before CCSU won, 84-81. Blue Devils Malcolm McMilland and Matt Hunter each played all 50 minutes, while leading scorer Kyle Vinales played 46 minutes. Hunter led CCSU with 23 points, while Vinales had an unwanted double-double of 19 points and 11 turnovers.
Ben Millaud-Meunier led the Red Flash with 21 points.
NEC NUGGETS: The top eight teams qualify for the NEC Tournament, and seven seeds are set. The eighth spot will decided today when Sacred Heart plays at St. Francis Brooklyn. Each team is 7-10 in the league. Today's winner will play at Robert Morris Wednesday night in the NEC Tournament quarterfinals ... Sacred Heart, which has lost six straight games, lost at LIU Brooklyn, 70-68, Thursday night. Shane Gibson had 25 points and Phil Gaetano contributed 11 assists for the Pioneers. The Blackbirds, who were 11-for-20 from the free throw line, received a 16-13 double-double from Jamal Olasewere, who was just 5-of-18 from the field. E.J. Reed added 18 points off the bench, while Jason Brickman had 12 assists ... St. Francis Brooklyn lost to visiting Quinnipiac, 78-67. The Terriers, who made only four turnovers, were 12-of-20 from the chalk. Quinnipiac was 25-of-29 from the stripe. Ike Azotam scored 19 points ... Mount St. Mary's ran its winning streak to six games with a 77-63 victory at Monmouth. Freshman Shivaughn Wiggins scored 16 points for the Mountaineers, who were just 15-of-28 from the chalk ... Visiting Wagner trailed, 41-39, at halftime against Fairleigh Dickinson but righted itself in the second half and won, 84-66. It was FDU's 14th consecutive loss. Kinu Rochford led the Knights with 22 points. Jonathan Williams scored 20 points for Wagner, which played without standout guard Latif Rivers (sprained ankle). The Knights and Seahawks combined were 7-for-30 from international waters.
