Meyer On Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. – Senior Day at Robert Morris Saturday started with a flourish and finished with, well, quite the finish.
Eleven seconds into the game against Saint Francis Brooklyn, senior point guard
Anthony Myers-Pate slipped a slick pass to a cutting
Lucky Jones, who slammed home the first basket of the game.
Myers-Pate had the first of his eight assists just like that.
Sixty-five seconds later, senior guard
Karvel Anderson made a mid-range jump shot.
Anderson had the first of his 31 points just like that.
And about 43 minutes later, thus not just like that, the Colonials edged the Terriers, 71-70, in overtime when junior
Lucky Jones tipped in an Anderson miss.
The victory, achieved in front of 2,381 fans in the Charles L. Sewall Center, produced RMU's second straight Northeast Conference regular-season championship thanks to its 13-1 record.
"Ant and Karvel will remember that one for a while,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "A pretty good Senior Night.''
"We had some amazing things happen,'' Jones said. "We just stuck with it.''
Just as they did two nights earlier against LIU Brooklyn. In that game, the Colonials trailed by 10 points at halftime and fell behind by 16 points early in the second half but rallied to win.
Against Saint Francis Brooklyn, the Colonials trailed by six points at halftime and fell behind by 12 points early in the second half but rallied to win.
"I guess great things happen in great situations like that,'' Jones said.
"It's great,'' Myers-Pate said. "To have our fans and all our family members see this and for us to show so much togetherness, you can't ask for more. It shows that we're the ultimate family.''
Saturday's game went to overtime after Anderson missed a shot from the left elbow just before the buzzer.
"I thought the shot at the end of regulation was a great shot,'' Toole said. "That's a shot that we've seen him hit tons and tons of times.''
Just not this time. Well, no matter.
The Colonials began the overtime just as they did the game. Dave Appolon drove for a crowd-jacking slam. Less than 30 seconds later, Anderson drained a three -- his final basket, as it turned out. A minute or so later, Jones made two free throws, and the Colonials led, 69-62.
A three-pointer by Ben Mockford pulled the Terriers to within 69-65 with 2:41 remaining, but Robert Morris seemed in decent shape when Stephan Hawkins, gamely playing on a tender ankle, grabbed a defensive rebound with 1:08 left.
The Colonials had the ball and a four-point lead.
However, after a Jones turnover 24 seconds later, the Terriers scored to make it a two-point game.
So, OK, the Colonials had the ball with a two-point lead and 35 seconds left.
However, a 10-second violation gave the ball back to Saint Francis Brooklyn. With 13 seconds remaining, Jalen Cannon made an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Colonials had the ball. Yes, they were down a point, but there was time.
During the ensuing timeout, Robert Morris called a play that would give Anderson the final shot. However, his attempt from near the left elbow with three seconds left was short. Jones grabbed the ball out of the air and sort of tipped it toward the basket. The ball hung on the rim for an agonizing split-second before dropping through.
"I just thank Lucky,'' Anderson said. "There isn't really much to say about it. It went in. Like coach says, the basketball gods looked out for him.''
"In the timeout as we're drawing up the play, (sophomore)
Aaron Tate and my staff were screaming, 'Just get to the glass! Just go to the glass!''' Toole said. "That's all they talked about in the timeout. As soon as Lucky screened, he just rolled and ran to the rim and was able to make an incredible play.''
"I want to give thanks to
Aaron Tate,'' Jones said. "The way (Anderson's) ability to be clutch is, I knew it was going in. But Aaron told me, 'Go to the glass! You never know if the ball's going to come out or not.' That's what I did, and I was lucky enough to get the layup.
"I was hoping that he was going to make the shot, but I saw it partially get tipped and I was looking in the air to see where it was and catch it and go up with it. I said, 'Please go in. Please.' And then when I finally saw it drop in, I couldn't really think anymore because the crowd was so loud and everyone was jumping up and down. When they inbounded the ball, I was saying, 'Please, don't let this go in the basket. It would be a heartbreaker.'''
The Terriers managed only a heave from near midcourt that missed as time ran out.
"I thought (Anderson's shot) was going in,'' Myers-Pate said. "I just knew it was going in. But like I told Lucky probably 50 times since we walked (to the locker room), I love him. Love him. I love him to death.''
"I'm really not sure what to say about the game,'' Toole said. "Obviously, an incredible game, a playoff-game atmosphere, high-level intensity. Both teams just battled and battled and battled. Fortunately, we were able to get one last shot to go, and I'm thankful that we did.''
Toole's thought when Jones' tip hung on the rim?
"I was thinking basically whatever is going to happen,is going to happen at this point in time,'' he said. "We built the lead in overtime. I probably should have called timeout on a couple of occasions, where Lucky turned it over and we got the 10-second count, and those are my mistakes. In the Lucky situation, they were trying to foul us, so I didn't really understand why we were running around and, you know, trying to break their pressure when they were trying to come and foul us. I didn't want to necessarily call timeout because then we'd have to try to inbound it again.
"A lot of times as a coach, I think, you look for your team to fight, you look for them to battle, you look for them to control the things they can control, and I felt like at that point in time we had done everything in our power to break the halftime deficit. The game goes overtime. Guys were battling and battling and battling. Sometimes it just comes down to the ball rolling one way or another, and I was comfortable with either way it would have rolled. I'm just glad it rolled in our favor.''
It did indeed, and this short-handed Colonial team had won still another NEC game that it could have lost.
"It speaks volumes,'' Toole said of the comeback victory. "It speaks volumes about the way they just stay with it.''
Toole simply shook his head, then continued.
"I think Ant Myers dove into everyone on each baseline during the course of the entire game,'' he said. "Kavon (Stewart) hit the floor. Dave made some incredible effort plays.
Aaron Tate made some great effort plays. (What) Lucky and Karvel (did), obviously goes without saying. Everybody who went on the floor contributed, and they fought against a very, very tough team. That was Saint Francis' fourth game of the week, and they battled. They took the game to overtime (and) had a great chance to win it. They're a team that's extremely physical, extremely tough, and in order for you to be successful against them you have to at least match their intensity and their toughness, and we did that tonight.''
Speaking of which, how about that Stephan Hawkins?
The sophomore turned his left ankle 10 minutes into the LIU Brooklyn game and didn't return. But there he was Saturday, playing 31 minutes.
"God makes miracles,'' Jones said. "I didn't think he was going to be able to go. I told him when we were eating (pregame), 'If you can go, you go, but if you can't, don't risk it for one (game) because we all have each others' backs and you (can be) our biggest supporter (on the bench).' He told me, 'I'm going to try. I'm going to try.' Then when we went down for pregame I saw him in there with (athletic trainer) Jason (Daley) working his butt off, and I said, 'You know what? I think he's going to go tonight,' and him playing 31 minutes gave us a great boost.''
"I saw Hawk when he came over (Friday) morning to the training room,'' Toole said. "He had some good swelling in the ankle, but he had some good mobility as well. He and
Jason Daley basically were joined at the hip all day (Friday), and by the third time he had treatment Jason called me and said, 'Hawk wants to know if he can do the shoot around (Saturday).' It was pretty much (Hawkins) saying, 'I'm going to go out and I'm going to play and I'm going to help my team however I can.' I didn't know what we were going to get out of him. I thought going into the game maybe if we could get 15 to 18 (minutes) that would be great.
"He goes and plays for 31 minutes and he has five rebounds -- four real tough defensive rebounds. I thought he caused them to miss some interior shots. I thought he did a good job in a really, really big-time atmosphere. I thought he really stepped up. I told him after the game that I thought he showed his teammates, his coaches and everybody at the game a lot about his character and a lot about his toughness.''
Anderson played 42 of the 45 minutes, an unusually high workload for him.
"I was begging (the coaches) not to sit me on the bench too long, begging them to let me stay in the game,'' Anderson said. "Regardless of what was happening, I was going to try to fight through (some cramping). It was too big a game for me to let my guys down and not empty my tank and give everything I had.
"It was a big thing with this being Senior Night. To clinch the regular-season championship on Senior Night in this type of game, the emotions we all had going through us, I'm just proud of my guys. Lucky was a tremendous captain throughout the entire game. We stayed together through everything. There were a lot of times during the game -- especially in the first half -- where we could have fallen apart and gone back to being individuals, and somehow we chose not to do that and stayed together as a team.''
Anderson was 13 of a career-high 27 from the field, including an unusually dismal 3-of-13 from deep, while manufacturing his 31 points. His trio of treys raised his season total to 95, breaking the RMU season record for most made threes (93) set by Scott Shepherd in 1988-89. Anderson also had four rebounds, an assist and three steals.
Myers-Pate, in addition to his eight assists, contributed 12 points, three rebounds and a steal.
Pretty good afternoon for the two seniors on their day.
"If we could fill our locker room with
Karvel Anderson's and
Anthony Myers-Pate's,'' Toole said, "it would be really, really easy to coach.''
UP NEXT: The Colonials play at Fairleigh Dickinson (6-7 in league play) Thursday night. The Knights clinched a berth in the NEC Tournament by beating visiting Sacred Heart, 73-66, Saturday. Sacred Heart, which has lost 11 consecutive games, closed to within 64-60 with 2:23 left, but FDU made 9-of-10 free throws thereafter to close out the victory.
Mathias Seilund had 13 points to lead a balanced Knight offense that produced double figures for all five starters. Teammate Sidney Sanders Jr., who continues to play despite a sore heal, had 11 points and seven assists.
Louis Montes scored 19 points and freshman De'von Burnett added a season-high 18 for the Pioneers. Mustafa Abdel Latif had 14 rebounds.
NEC NUGGETS: Wagner, which entertains Robert Morris next Saturday, held off visiting Mount St. Mary's, 71-66, Saturday. The Seahawks led, 58-45, with 7:34 remaining, but the Mountaineers made it a three-point game with 1:40 left. A Kenny Ortiz field goal and five Seahawk free throws sealed the deal. Ortiz led Wagner with 21 points. Rashad Whack had a 15-10 double-double for the Mountaineers. Mount Saint Mary's (7-for-26) and Wagner (2-of-8) combined to make only 9-of-34 casts from international waters … Host Bryant, which led, 46-25, early in the second half, turned back Central Connecticut State, 68-65. "We've seen it a million times before when teams come back like that,'' Bryant coach Tim O'Shea told the
Providence Journal. "That's the way this conference is. Every team has good players. Sometimes a younger team falls apart. But (we) kept playing. (We) made big plays at the end.'' Kyle Vinales had 18 points and six assists for the Blue Devils. Bryant's Alex Francis had 12 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Bryant played without high-scoring guard Dyami Starks, who was suspended for one game for a violation of team rules … Saint Francis University broke out to a 41-23 halftime lead and had little trouble beating visiting LIU Brooklyn, 83-64. The Red Flash made 10-of-23 attempts from beyond the arc and shot 52.6 percent from the field overall. Stephon Wyatt, who was 8-for-10 from the field, scored a team-high 21 points for Saint Francis. Jason Brickman had 25 points and five assists for the Blackbirds. Brickman was 5-for-10 from deep, while his teammates were 2-of-14 from long range.
