Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. – Karvel Anderson had a great night Thursday. Finally.
He should have a wonderful day today, before the game even tips off.
When Robert Morris honors Anderson and
Anthony Myers-Pate on Senior Day, Anderson will be escorted onto the Charles L. Sewall Center court by his mother, Kecoria Anderson.
This has been a long, long time coming.
"It means a lot,'' Anderson said. "It's something that will probably be one of the biggest moments of my life when it happens.''
Anderson had a rough time, to put it mildly, during his high school years in Elkhart, Ind.
"You know, my mom was unfortunately incarcerated,'' Anderson said. "She didn't get to walk out with me on my Senior Night in high school. She didn't get to be there for my high school graduation, so it's a big thing for me.''
Unescorted on his high school Senior Night at Elkhart Memorial, Anderson dropped a school-record 46 points on South Bend Clay.
What he will do Saturday against Saint Francis Brooklyn is anybody's guess, but it will be difficult for him to top what he did in the second half Thursday night against LIU Brooklyn.
Held without a shot in the first half, the Colonials' leading scorer broke loose for 26 points in the second half, including 20 in a fabulous final 6:43, to lead Robert Morris to a stirring 73-64 win against the Blackbirds.
The victory, achieved by the Colonials after they trailed, 46-30, with 17 minutes left, lifted them to 12-1 in the Northeast Conference and gave them at least a tie for their second straight NEC regular-season championship.
There were a bunch of other elements in this most recent win in the Colonials' stunning run to the brink of an NEC title -- Dave Appolon's contribution on the glass, Chuck Oliver's nine-point first half that kept RMU afloat,
Kavon Stewart's six assists and Stephan Hawkins' ankle injury, to name four -- but Anderson's effort headed the list.
"What he did tonight was absolutely incredible,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "That's the kind of thing that seniors do. That's what players who are of Karvel's character are capable of doing when they get that opportunity.''
In the first half, however, Anderson had no opportunity. A combination of tight defense by LIU Brooklyn guard Gerrell Martin and Anderson's passive approach produced a "nothing'' first half. No shots, no points.
In short, Anderson's first half was one for the birds. In this case, the Blackbirds.
"I thought he was stagnant in the first half,'' Toole said. "I didn't think he was moving a whole lot. Obviously, as we've seen, they were going to try to take him away and not let him get catches and not let him be comfortable. That should be something that we know going in. He's done a great job in a lot of games of not letting that affect him and continuing to move and create space and get in the lane.''
"I felt like I took myself away most of the time,'' Anderson said. "I wasn't, for whatever reason, as mentally engaged as I should have been. Once they tried to attack me defensively, I wasn't prepared to handle it. They tried to focus on denying me the ball. On the rotations and the switches, they were making sure I was one of the people they denied. But I think that was more on me. I took myself out of the offense. I stood a lot. I didn't move as much as I normally do. I became stagnant and hurt us offensively.''
Appolon noticed. At halftime, he angrily tossed a bottle of Gatorade at Anderson's feet.
"I got mad at him,'' Appolon said. "It seemed like he was a little bit out of it. I had to stay on him and told him 'Don't worry about anything else but the game. Worry about winning.'''
"Kind of woke me up a little bit,'' Anderson said.
Anderson's second half began unpromisingly. Eleven seconds in, he went to the basket and made the shot but was called for charging.
A minute later, he missed a jump shot, his first official attempt.
He still hadn't scored, but he did seem to be rousing himself.
"He started to attack,'' Toole said. "He got the charge on the first play of the second half, but I'd rather have him going in and being aggressive. Then we can say, 'Hey, jump stop. Be on balance' versus kind of standing and being stagnant.''
Finally with 17:37 left, Anderson made a free throw for his first point. Less than a minute later, he made two free throws. It wasn't much, but those three free throws were a start.
With 13:16 remaining, Anderson got his first field goal, a three-pointer, but the Colonials trailed, 49-39, and still hadn't demonstrated much life.
That would change after Appolon ignited a stunning second-half turnaround on the glass with about nine minutes left. An Anderson three at the 6:43 mark cut RMU's deficit to seven, and here came the Colonials.
Two more Anderson triples trimmed LIU Brooklyn's lead to two with 4:06 left, and then Anderson tied the score at 61 with an acrobatic, twisting layup with 3:39 remaining and fully engaged the crowd.
Chuck Oliver's free throw a minute later put the Colonials ahead for good.
Lucky Jones' two free throws at 2:08 made it 64-61 and set the stage for Anderson's final burst of nine points in the final 70 seconds.
He got his last three on an unnecessary shot from the right corner with six seconds remaining. At that point, all Robert Morris needed to do was dribble out the final seconds, but perhaps Anderson simply wanted to cap off a sensational second-half performance and fully exorcise his first-half frustrations.
"It was kind of great to see Karvel finally wake up in the second half,'' Jones said.
"Doesn't surprise me,'' Toole said. "We've seen him go on some tears. I thought his movement was great. I thought he had an aggressiveness and a focus to him where he wasn't going to let his team lose, and that's exactly what he did on the offensive end.''
"My teammates kept pushing me, kept telling me to be aggressive, kept telling me to just do what I do,'' Anderson said. "Some shots fell for me and that got me going a little bit, and they kept trying to find me. Kavon and Ant (Myers-Pate) did a good job penetrating and making the extra pass. (The shots) were lucky enough to fall for me and helped us get the win.''
Appolon played a key role in this win, too.
"Dave did a tremendous job,'' Jones said.
Appolon had career highs in points (13) and rebounds (nine). In the second half, he scored seven points and had seven rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.
He was at his inspirational best during a one-minute stretch early in the second half in which he twice scored on put-backs and then later in the half when he again produced four points on put-backs in a one-minute span that officially began the comeback.
"It was incredible,'' Toole said. "This was probably the third time Dave's done something like this. He had some huge, huge energy, rebound put-back plays that gave us some life. I thought his rebounding was the start of our believing that we could come back and win the game. I really do. It was at a point where we were down 16. We were missing some shots. He gave us a couple offensive rebound put-backs that all of a sudden allowed us to hang around and gave us hope. You know if 16 goes to 20, I'm not sure you can make that comeback. But those individual rebounds and those individual efforts showed guys that if we can work and if we can stay together maybe we can do this.''
"Hawk went down, so it seemed like I had to do more than I'd done before,'' Appolon said. "I just had to do more.''
Hawkins hurt his ankle breaking up a long pass on a Blackbird fast break midway through the first half. He did not return and spent the second half on the bench with his ankle taped. His absence left the Colonials with only seven players.
To be fair, LIU Brooklyn's E.J. Reed, its leading scorer (12.2 points per game) and top rebounder (5.3), was hurt by foul trouble and played only 12 minutes, finishing with just six points and one rebound.
Jones also played with foul trouble and had another poor shooting night (three of 13 from the field) but did manage 10 points and had eight rebounds.
"I was kind of frustrated,'' Jones said. "I couldn't be as aggressive as I really wanted to. I was really kind of playing into their hands. Karvel kept telling me, 'You have four fouls. We need you. Be smart.' And that's what I tried to do -- do the little things that counted. It was great to see Dave continue to do what he does on the glass.''
In the first half, LIU Brooklyn (3-9) outrebounded the Colonials, 18-9. Robert Morris had only two offensive rebounds. But in the second half, the Colonials outglassed the Blackbirds, 25-12, and led by Appolon had eight offensive rebounds.
The Colonials also did a better job offensively against LIU Brooklyn's zone, which it switched to early in the first half after Robert Morris effectively worked through its man-to-man defense to build a 24-17 lead.
"Zones make you stand, and so when you stand you don't score,'' Toole said. "Even in the second half, we weren't crisp offensively against their zone, but we were moving the ball. We were attacking. We were getting in the gap. We were trying to get the defense behind. In the first half, it was like everybody who caught the ball just stared at the guy guarding him and said, 'OK, let me see if I can drive by him. Let me see if I can shoot it' -- instead of, you know, guys moving the ball, cutting, adding some pace to offense. Sometimes that's what zone does to you, and sometimes you do that to yourself, and I think it was a combination of both.''
The Colonials also energized their own zone defense in the second half after permitting Jason Brickman, the Blackbirds' outstanding point guard, to run things efficiently in the first half. Brickman had seven assists in the first half, which ended with LIU Brooklyn up, 39-29.
"I told (Karvel) in the locker room I thought what he did from a defensive standpoint in the second half was incredible,'' Toole said. "In the first half, our guards up top weren't very active. They were getting screened. Brickman was having his way. He had seven assists in the first half. He only had two in the second. I attribute a lot of that to our activity up top. They took it upon themselves that they weren't going to allow him to get in the lane. They weren't going to just give up on a screen. Karvel didn't get screened one time in the second half. He got through every screen. He fought through every situation. He was terrific.
"We took away absolutely nothing in the first half. I would like to have taken away something. I thought we did a good job taking away the three in the second half. And I thought
Aaron Tate did a spectacular job defending the post. He had three or four plays where he just walled up, stayed strong and made guys miss, which was key because if they are able to finish a couple of those, now it's a different game.''
As it turned out, it was a game that will be long remembered by Colonial fans.
"I can't express how proud I am of our team tonight,'' Toole said. "I told them that. I wish the coaches could take some kind of credit for something we did that was like great tactical maneuvers or calling some great plays or doing any of that. We were kind of along for the ride just like everybody else was, and at some point in time -- I'm not exactly sure when it was -- guys just rallied together and started playing with an energy and an enthusiasm and a togetherness that was fun to watch. It was an incredible effort, an incredible comeback, and they did it. They did all the heavy lifting. They made all the plays. They got all the stops. Dave Appolon (made) some incredible effort plays to keep us around and keep us involved. They really started to feel it, and it was fun to be a part of. I'm just incredibly proud of the way they performed tonight.''
The players didn't seem able to pinpoint exactly when they felt they could win.
"We looked at each other,'' Jones said, "and said, 'We can't lose this at home.' We have three games to go, and this is a crucial part of the season. This is the fun time -- and as you saw we really had fun in the second half. We just played together, played defense, got the crucial stops, got the crucial rebounds. Everyone contributed in some way, and we were just fortunate enough to get the W.''
"I felt like we worked too hard throughout the conference season to let this one slip away,'' Anderson said. "You know, we let one slip away earlier (Central Connecticut State, 74-73, Feb. 1), and we knew this one was going to be one we'd regret. We've worked too hard. We've come too far. We've overcome some adverse things. LIU wasn't going to beat us. We felt like the game shouldn't even have been the way it was to begin with. Overcoming adversity is just something that we do. We enjoy doing it, and we're getting pretty good at it.''
"We're down to eight guys, and Hawk (getting hurt) makes seven,'' Appolon said. "We've stuck together as a team. We've become likea real team and we want to reach our goal, and that's a championship.''
As bleak as things seemed for the Colonials for many of the first 30 minutes, Toole said he wasn't surprised that the final 10 minutes produced a victory.
"There's some great character in that locker room,'' he said. "There's a lot of heart in that locker room. That's why in the first half I was a little bit disappointed. I didn't think we had the right urgency or energy. That surprised me because that's not something we've seen from this group for about a month. But (the win) doesn't surprise me at all.''
UP NEXT: Visting Saint Francis Brooklyn (7-6) cruised past Saint Francis University, 73-44, Thursday night in a game in Loretto, Pa., between teams that had been tied for fifth place in the NEC. The Red Flash went 10 minutes with just one field goal during the first half which ended with the Terriers ahead, 42-19.
"Give Saint Francis Brooklyn credit,'' SFU coach Rob Krimmel said. "They came in and executed their game plan. Their style of play forces you to execute, and I didn't think that we did that, especially in the first half.''
The Terriers should be pretty rested for their game at RMU today. Only one starter played more than 23 minutes, and their bench contributed 40 points. Ben Mockford, who needs only four points to reach 1,000 for his career, had a game-high 16 points. Brent Jones had 11 assists. Terrier Sheldon Hagigal, who averages 8.7 points per game, missed his third consecutive game.
Earl Brown led the Red Flash with 12 points.
NEC NUGGETS: Myers-Pate, cousin of former Colonial standout Derek Coleman, enters today's game with 736 career points and 423 career assists, ninth on RMU's all-time list. Andre Boyd (1987-91) is eighth with 434 assists … Wagner (8-4) is the only NEC team that can tie Robert Morris for the NEC regular-season championship. The Seahawks won their fourth consecutive game Thursday night by beating visiting Sacred Heart, 74-62. Marcus Burton (19 points) and Orlando Parker (16 points, 10 rebounds) led Wagner. Luis Montes scored 27 points for Sacred Heart (1-11). Wagner plays visiting Mount St. Mary's (7-5) Saturday, then finishes at Fairleigh Dickinson Monday in a makeup game and at home against Saint Francis University and Robert Morris … Fairleigh Dickinson (5-7) ended its five-game losing streak with a 63-52 win at Bryant (8-4). The Knights allowed an average of 85 points per game in their previous five games, but they held Bryant to its season-low NEC single-game point total. Bryant shot 29.6 percent from the field, scored only 18 points in the second half and did not score in the final 3:51. Mustafaa Jones (19 points) and Mathias Seilund (17) combined for 36 points for the Knights, while Sidney Sanders Jr. had 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. FDU made 13-of-22 from three-point range. Bryant's Alex Francis, an NEC Player of the Year candidate, scored seven points and had eight rebounds. Corey Maynard scored 17 points. Dyami Starks contributed 16 but was just six of 21 from the field. . .Mount St. Mary's trailed, 45-30, at halftime at Central Connecticut State (5-8) but staged a Robert Morris-like performance in the second half and won, 87-76. The Mountaineers went 18-for-18 from the free throw line in the final 4:04. CCSU was just five of nine from the stripe during the game. Sam Prescott led Mount St. Mary's with 19 points. Taylor Danaher had 17 points and eight rebounds and was 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Faronte Drakeford led the Blue Devils with 17 points. Teammate Kyle Vinales scored only eight points and was 3-of-13 from the field.
