Meyer On Morris: Third Time's A Charm

By: By Paul Meyer

Men's Basketball | 11/22/2014 12:00:00 AM

Moon Township, Pa. – Even though Robert Morris played in Peoria, Ill., for the first time Wednesday night, the Colonials found themselves in familiar territory.

For the third consecutive game, they'd fallen behind big and early. In their two previous games, that cost them dearly. There they were again against Bradley Wednesday night, trailing 11-2 just seven minutes in. That meant that in their first three games they'd been behind a combined 40-7 in the opening minutes.

Tough way to do business.

However, the third time turned out to be a charm for the Colonials. Led by Rodney Pryor and Lucky Jones, they rallied to win at Bradley, 68-61.

"This will be big for our team,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "This is something not always done by a Northeast Conference school, to go on the road against a Missouri Valley Conference team and get a win.''

For sure, the Colonials should feel better about themselves as they prepare for another huge test against Big East power Georgetown (2-0) in the Verizon Center Saturday at noon.

The Bradley game gave large lifts to Jones and Pryor, each of whom did little in the first two games. In those two games, Jones, likely to finish in the top five on the RMU career scoring list, scored only 16 points and made just 4-of-21 field goal attempts, including 3-of-11 from three-point range. Pryor, a highly regarded junior college transfer, had a total of 14 points and was 5-for-19 from the field, including 3-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Neither was any better early on at Bradley. Each had only three points 14 minutes into the game, at which point the Colonials trailed, 27-12.

"That's as good as we can be defensively for a long stretch," Bradley coach Geno Ford told the Peoria Journal Star. "But we kept missing layups and free throws."

The Colonials capitalized on that and turned around their evening by going on a 15-0 sprint.

Pryor manufactured a four-point play on a three-and-one. Jones, who through the first 96 game minutes of this season had five field goals in 25 attempts, drained a trey, another three and then made two free throws, helping the Colonials tie the game at 27 with 1:28 remaining in the first half.

Three free throws later from Pryor and the Colonials had a 30-28 lead at intermission.

"We were turning the ball over at a crazy rate early,'' Toole said, "but we were able to find good shots. Last year, we were fortunate because Karvel (Anderson) could create shots. This year, we have to use each other and dribble penetration.''

The Robert Morris momentum continued in the second half. The Colonials held a 54-43 lead with five and-a-half minutes remaining.

However, the Braves made a final charge, whittling their deficit to 56-55 three minutes later.

The Colonials would not be denied, though.

Pryor scored eight points in a two-minute span. Jones made a key steal and sank two free throws immediately thereafter to give RMU a 64-57 lead. The Colonials finished neatly, making all six of their free throw attempts in the final 39 seconds, and pocketed their first win of the season.

Ford was less than pleased with his team's free throw shooting (14-of-27), missed layups and 18 turnovers.

"There's nothing to making a layup other than toughness and concentration," Ford said. "Our guards taking care of the ball was ridiculous, making 18 turnovers against a 2-3 zone for 40 minutes."

Toole, on the other hand, was quite pleased.

"Our guys really fought and stayed together and were able to get back in the game by halftime," Toole said. "We came up with some big stops late. We hadn't been in that situation as a team, hadn't been in a one-possession game yet. We kept telling them to stay with it, and obviously Lucky and Rodney were great. They made terrific shots.''

Pryor, who missed his first three-point attempt against Bradley, made each of his next six. He was 7-for-8 overall from the field, sank all six of his free throw attempts and finished with a game-high 26 points, all in 21 minutes off the bench. Jones wound up with 17 points to go along with six rebounds and was 4-for-9 from the field, including 3-of-6 from international waters.

Senior Dave Appolon did the gritty work inside, tying a career-high with nine rebounds.

"A lot of people don't recognize the winning plays he makes,'' Toole said.

Appolon's glass work helped the Colonials outrebound an opponent for the first time this season, 41-32.

The Colonials welcomed back 6'5" Aaron Tate. The junior missed the first two regular-season games while serving a suspension for violation of team rules. Tate played 22 minutes and had three points and two rebounds.

"It was great having him back,'' Toole said. "It really helps our depth.''

All in all, a great way to play in Peoria.

"Everybody stepped up,'' Toole said. "We started to get some answers Sunday night at North Carolina. We made very team-oriented decisions.''

UP NEXT: The Colonials resume play in the Battle 4 Atlantis event with their game against Georgetown.

The Hoyas were picked to finish second in the Big East behind Villanova this season. Junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera was voted the Big East's preseason Player of the Year after averaging a team-best 17.6 points a game last season.

Smith-Rivera, however, has started slowly this season. He scored only eight points in the Hoyas' season-opening 83-62 victory against NEC member St. Francis Brooklyn. He managed seven points in Georgetown's 78-62 win against Texas A&M Corpus Christi last Tuesday night. In that game, Smith-Rivera played a modest 24 minutes, including just six minutes in the second half.

"I thought the other groups we had in there were playing better,'' Georgetown coach John Thompson III said, explaining Smith-Rivera's limited second-half role. "He was in a little bit of a funk, That's going to happen. We have one of these teams this year where who knows what the combination is going to be. We have eight, nine, 10, 11 players that we can put out there that I'm comfortable with and they're comfortable with each other. We took him out and we went on a little run, so I left those guys out there.''

St. Francis Brooklyn out-rebounded the Hoyas, 45-40, in the season opener, but Georgetown did better on the glass in its second game.

"I think everyone was much more just overall rebounding,'' Thompson said. "We've had that discussion a lot the last couple of days. We have guys that can go get the ball. They just have to make themselves do it. We want to get out and we want to run, but to do that we have to get stops and we have to get rebounds. It's great to say, 'Hey, let's run, let's push it,' but you can't if you're giving up second shots and third shots.''

NOTES: Former Georgetown standout Alonzo Mourning's son, 6'9'' freshman Trey, is a member of the Hoyas … Bradley lost its first two home games this season for the first time since 1954-55 when the Braves lost their first three home games … RMU freshman guard Marcquise Reed, who scored a game-high 24 points at North Carolina, scored five points against Bradley -- all in the second half. His field goal gave the Colonials their 54-43 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left. "Marcquise had a tough first half,'' Toole said. "He had a good second half. He's learning to get past stuff and move on to the next play. That's a big thing.''

Tweet #ColonialPride

Print Friendly Version