Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. – RMU's Northeast Conference game at Mount St. Mary's Saturday promises to be interesting for a number of reasons.
 
"No. 1, because they have a great fan base every time we go there,'' junior forward Lucky Jones said. "No. 2, they have a great team. They just took down Wagner. No. 3, it's a statement. I know we were 5-10 coming into conference and everybody was saying Robert Morris is not this, Robert Morris is not that. We don't play any slouches in non-conference, and Saturday we'll just have to keep expressing on the court why this is the same Robert Morris team as in the past. We're going to continue to get stops, continue to fly around, have fun and shoot those three's.''
 
Toss in No. 4. Last season, when the Colonials won the NEC regular-season championship, they had home court for the duration of the NEC Tournament. Then Mount St. Mary's came into the Charles L. Sewall Center, March 9, and short-circuited the Colonials' duration by building a 20-point lead with five minutes remaining en route to a 69-60 victory in the NEC semifinals.
 
"For the returning guys, you should know why (Saturday's) game is going to be a fun game for us,'' senior Karvel Anderson said. "We have a lot we need to get off our chest -- a whole lot.''
 
Throw in No. 5, for good measure.
 
With their come-from-behind 73-68 win over visiting Saint Francis University Thursday night, the Colonials are the only unbeaten team in the NEC at 3-0 and after their visit to Mount St. Mary's will play their next four NEC games at home.
 
That affords them the opportunity to be in a very strong position at the halfway mark of the conference season.
 
"Every game in this league is going to be big,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "We've talked about how wide open (the league) is, how there's very limited margin of error. I think that every time you have the opportunity to step on the floor against a conference team and get a win, you have to take as much an advantage of that as you can. Going down to Mount, we're anticipating a great atmosphere. They're a very dangerous team in their own building. They're a team that has the ability to score a ton of points. They're a team that has the ability to really make the game hectic and turn you over, and if you don't prepare properly or don't respect what they're capable of doing it can be ugly.''
 
Ask Wagner.
 
On Thursday night, the Seahawks, picked by the league coaches to win the NEC championship this season, visited Knott Arena and lost, 89-80, in a game that was deceptively close. The Mountaineers led, 80-58, with 7:20 left, having by that time forced most of Wagner's 19 turnovers that led to 34 Mountaineer points.
 
"I'm not shocked,'' Wagner coach Bashir Mason told the Staten Island Advance. "Before the season, I thought they would be in the thick of it, and this is a tough place to come to and win."
 
"The mayhem style we play energizes the whole team,'' said Mountaineer point guard Julian Norfleet, who's helped his team win 15 of its past 18 home games. "The atmosphere we have here when we play is amazing.''
 
The Colonials, who have won nine of their past 11 NEC road games, stirred up a pretty good home atmosphere of their own Thursday night after they fell behind the Red Flash, 65-54, with 4:40 remaining. With many in the crowd of 1,221 quietly stunned that Robert Morris had frittered away a 50-39 lead, the Colonials brought their fans back into the game with a 19-3 run that secured the victory.
 
"I'm thankful to have won the game,'' Toole said. "I think that's the best way to describe that game, being thankful. I thought we did a lot of good things the first 30 minutes and then we allowed them some opportunities to make some shots, which allowed them to take the lead, but thankfully we were able to kind of put it together in that last 4:40 and steal a win.''
 
"It's a reluctant win,'' Jones said. "We practiced terrible three days straight, and we came out on the court the same way we practiced. We went through the motions and things weren't falling right and that's how we played. They're a really good team. They're different from the last couple years. They have confidence. They have heart. They were going to come here and show us they're not a slouch team anymore. We kind of took it for granted as a whole and they hit shots, and when you have a team that shoots three-pointers as well as (they do) they're going to stay in the game the whole time.''
 
Still, the Colonials did have that 50-39 lead with 11:21 left.
 
The next six minutes?
 
"We played like the game was over,'' RMU freshman Jeremiah Worthem said.
 
"The reason we gave up that lead initially (was because) we kind of let our foot off the gas a little bit,'' Anderson said. "We stopped respecting our opponent, and it gave them life.''
 
Saint Francis U., which has lost 12 consecutive games to Robert Morris, rallied behind some long treys from Ben Millaud-Meunier and Dominique Major while steadily erasing the Colonial lead and then gradually building its own cushion.
 
"They got confidence,'' Anderson said. "Anybody knows (if) you get a couple easy looks you feel like you can hit them from anywhere, and that's what they did.''
 
It took some time before the Colonials found an answer for that 26-4 Saint Francis run.
 
"We started to panic offensively, which resulted in poor shots, which resulted in them having the opportunity to extend their lead,'' Toole said. "It was like, you know, they take the lead and we have to make a 12-point play to get back up by eight. No. We just have to come down and take a good shot. We had a stretch from probably 10 or 11 minutes to that 4:40 mark where whoever touched (the ball) shot it. I didn't know we were playing with a four-second shot clock. One pass, shot. One pass, shot. One pass, shot. No one executed offense.''
 
Then somebody did.
 
Jones hit a three-pointer from the right corner.
 
"We (couldn't) allow them just because they're shooting three's from wherever to bring us down,'' Jones said. "One thing Karvel told me, 'We're not going to lose this game at home. You have to shoot the ball.' I wasn't really into it as much, but he gave me a spark. When I let it go, I knew it was good. Once one person's going, everyone's going.''
 
Robert Morris clamped a 1-2-2 full-court press on the Red Flash, and seemingly just like that a Colonial flash turned the game.
 
Two free throws by Jones made it 66-59 with 3:42 left.
 
After an Anderson steal, Worthem's three-pointer made it 66-62 with 3:07 left.
 
Following a Red Flash turnover, Anderson buried a three. It was 66-65.
 
After yet another Saint Francis turnover, Anthony Myers-Pate's field goal from near the free throw line put the Colonials ahead, 67-66 with 1:36 remaining.
 
Less than a minute later, Aaron Tate took a pass from Myers-Pate and rolled in a layup, 69-66.
 
Ronnie Drinnon made a layup for SFU with 38 seconds left, but two free throws by Anderson and two more free throws by Worthem sealed the deal.
 
"We got desperate when we got down,'' Anderson said. "We definitely didn't want to lose at home. We feel like we have a lot of  confidence right now. This was one of those games that we would have regretted for a long time if we had lost. I felt like we pulled that one out of desperation.''
 
The Red Flash helped the Colonials by missing four of five free throws in the final four minutes.
 
"You have to make free throws and take care of the basketball,'' Saint Francis coach Rob Krimmel said. "Give credit to Robert Morris. They made the plays when they needed to. They're an experienced team (playing) at home. They're a talented team. They're a tough team.''
 
"I don't know if it was experience or maybe being a little bit terrified that we were up 11 and now down 11,'' Toole said. "Something definitely caught our attention. Unfortunately, we're a team that when we make shots we feel good and we make the necessary effort to win. So Lucky makes a three in the corner and everyone's jumping for joy because we made a shot. Then everyone's feeling good about themselves because we've cut the lead from 11 to six in two possessions. Then Jeremiah makes a three, and all of a sudden all's right with the world and we can continue to play hard. That's a very, very  dangerous way to play the game of basketball. We got away with it tonight, but I'm not sure how many times you can continue to get away with it.''
 
Anderson led the Colonials with 24 points. He hit five of 10 from deep.
 
"He's a fantastic player,'' Krimmel said. "In the first half, every shot he took he had a hand in his face. Our defenders were doing everything right, and he still made shots -- tough shots. He can score and shoot it at such a high clip. He's a good player.''
 
Jones added 12 points, raising his career total to 944, and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
 
Worthem also scored 12 points and had five rebounds.
 
"Those are the things we expect from Jeremiah,'' Toole said. "I don't think anybody on the bench was shocked when he raised up to shoot the shot (with 3:07 left). I don't think anyone was shocked when it went in the basket. We know what kind of talent he has. When he's locked in, he's capable of doing a lot of productive things for us.''
 
"He's growing up. He's maturing,'' Jones said. "He is, in my opinion, probably the best freshman in the conference. I'm not trying to put a lot of pressure on him, but he's the spark. He has that hunger, and he has that fight, and he's going to continue to improve each and every night.''
 
UP NEXT: Julian Norfleet (28 points) and Rashad Whack (27) combined for the bulk of the Mount St. Mary's points against Wagner.
 
"Julian is just one of those guys who worked to get better and better every year he's been in college, and now he is who he is,'' Mountaineer coach Jamion Christian said. "He's the best point guard in the league.''
 
For Wagner, Mario Moody produced a 17-13 double-double, while guard Latif Rivers scored 18 points off the bench.
 
NEC NUGGETS: Defending champion LIU Brooklyn fell to 0-3 with an 89-67 loss to visiting Fairleigh Dickinson Thursday night. The Knights, who had lost 11 consecutive games to the Blackbirds, committed only four turnovers. Mathias Seilund scored a career-high 20 points for FDU, while Matt MacDonald added 19. Sidney Sanders Sr., averaging 20.4 points per game, scored only four points for FDU but had 13 assists … Central Connecticut State also dropped to 0-3 by losing to visiting Saint Francis Brooklyn, 76-66. The Terriers, who made five of six from the free-throw line in the final 1:15 to decide this matter, received 20 points and 10 rebounds from Jalen Cannon and 12 points and 11 assists from Brent Jones … Host Bryant used a 15-0 run in the second half to take control of its 85-70 win against Sacred Heart. Luis Montes had a game-high 28 points for the Pioneers. For Bryant, Alex Francis had a 27-11 double-double, Corey Maynard scored 19 points and added seven assists and six rebounds and Dyami Starks had 14 points despite a rough shooting night. Starks was 5-of-18 from the field, including 1-for-8 from international waters.