Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. – It was late last Saturday afternoon, maybe 25 minutes after Robert Morris had finished clinching the Northeast Conference regular-season championship with a captivating one-point overtime win against Saint Francis Brooklyn.
 
It was an emotional, exciting time. The dizzying aspects of what had just happened still swirled around the Charles L. Sewall Center. It was a time to enjoy what had transpired, to savor every moment of it.
 
It was not the time to reflect deeply.
 
Even so, somebody asked Andrew Toole if he could sum up his feelings.
 
"I'm not sure I can summarize it and do it any justice right now, to be honest with you,'' Toole said. "Maybe in April or May ask me that question again, and I'll try to and summarize it. When you're in the middle of it and you're constantly just trying to get to the next practice, get to the next game, worrying about preparing the team, worrying about making sure all the guys are mentally, emotionally and physically prepared to go out and play, it's really hard to sit back, step away and say, 'Wow, this is pretty incredible what's going on here.'''
 
Understandable, Andy, but, uh, can you try?
 
"You kind of need …,'' he began before stopping.
 
Then he collected his scattered thoughts and started again.
 
"When it's all said and done, I'm positive (that) in my short head coaching career, some of the most positive memories that I'll have as a coach have come from these last 14 games,'' said Toole, in his fourth season as RMU's head coach. "Some of the resolve, some of the communication between the guys, some of the efforts that guys have made have been really, really inspiring, not only to their teammates but to our program in general. I'm really probably the most fortunate person because I'm able to kind observe it all and see it all. Those guys in the locker room, maybe they had doubt (Saturday), but they're a group of guys who believe in each other. They believe in what we're doing, and they go out and give their best effort every single time they step on the floor. That's really all you can ask for as far as a coach.''
 
Pretty poignant summation, which might be difficult to top in April. Or May. We can ask you again when this is all over, but those words are very powerful.
 
The Colonials clinched the NEC regular-season championship by winning 13 of their first 14 games. That made the final two regular-season games sort of academic.
 
Even so, on Thursday night, the Colonials won their seventh consecutive game by rallying from a 15-point deficit with eight and-a-half minutes remaining and winning at Fairleigh Dickinson, 69-64. They'll put a bow on the regular season with a game at Wagner this evening.
 
Then it's on to the NEC Tournament, in which the Colonials will have home court for as long as they keep winning.
 
"In this league, being able to win the regular-season title is so important,'' Toole said. "It doesn't guarantee you anything, but you kind of give yourself the best chance to continue to move (on) in (the) tournament. Having been on the home team winning the championship, the road team winning the championship, the road team losing the championship, I'd rather have the (championship) game played in the Sewall Center if we're fortunate enough to be able to get there.''
 
The Colonials also won the regular-season title last season, but that certainly didn't guarantee much success. They lost to Mount St. Mary's in the semifinals.
 
Still, when one considers that the Colonials in conference tournament play are 23-7 at home all-time, there's some comfort there.
 
Robert Morris begins this season's NEC Tournament Wednesday night against either Central Connecticut State or Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
Until then, they can spend some time reflecting on all that's happened this season, the good and the not-so-neat.
 
Go back to early December. The Colonials, after winning their first two games of the season, lost seven of their next eight.
 
Seniors Karvel Anderson and Anthony Myers-Pate were a tad mystified.
 
"There was one point where me and Ant didn't know if we could do this,'' Anderson said. "We were nervous, like maybe we might not end our senior year the way we worked so hard for it to end. The atmosphere inside the locker room wasn't the same (as it is now). We were kind of fighting and bickering with each other over little small things. It was one of those points where relationships were bad and we'd fight over every little thing, like who drank the last juice.''
 
"We were kind of doubting ourselves with our leadership qualities,'' Myers-Pate said. "We didn't know if we could lead the guys. Different people were mad. It was just chaos. The chemistry wasn't right.''
 
Anderson and Myers-Pate brainstormed, seeking any solution that would fix the problem.
 
"One time, (Anderson) told me, 'Even if you have to come off the bench, come off the bench,''' Myers-Pate said the other day, laughing at that memory. "We just tried to do anything.''
 
Finally …
 
"We had one of those moments,'' Anderson said. "Ant sat down with me one night and talked to me about it and just told me that he was going to do everything to try to make it change and (that) the only way he could do that was if I was doing the same thing with him.''
 
"We had more away-from-basketball activities to bring (the team) closer,'' Myers-Pate said. "We pulled all the guys into our apartment after film sessions and we'd meet and just talk and get stuff off our chests. We decided to do anything possible to make it work.''
 
And it did.
 
"We might not have started winning right away,'' Anderson said, "but everything mentally changed and peoples' focus changed a little bit and we started going in the right direction.''
 
By the time the Colonials began NEC play Jan. 9, they were in a much better frame of mind. Tougher mentally, they were able to withstand two players deciding to leave the program and another four players being suspended indefinitely, which effectively meant for the rest of the season.
 
Even though they were left with only eight players by Jan. 23, they continued to win. And win. And win.
 
"It just shows our true toughness,'' Lucky Jones said. "The guys we (lost), they're still with us. We had this goal. You know, we played probably the toughest non-conference schedule in Robert Morris history. We knew we weren't going to play those type of guys in our conference because everyone doesn't have the athleticism as some of the teams we played. We told ourselves, 'Let's try to do something special.'
 
"Once we played our first two conference games, we said, 'You know what? We can do more.' Even though we let that Central Connecticut loss (Feb. 1) hurt us, at the end of the day we had plenty more games to recover and we didn't look back. We have that game in our heads (to show us) how not to let it slip, how not to give up.''
 
"I just think it shows, with the adversity we've faced, the overall character of coach Toole,'' Myers-Pate said. "He gets the most out of you, and he lets us know anybody can do anything on any given day and how it's not just about one person, it's about a team. Once we lost those guys, we came together. I'm just proud of my team.''
 
THE COMEBACK COLONIALS: For the third consecutive game Thursday night, the Colonials rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half and won.
 
"I'm not sure how much longer we can pull it off,'' Toole said following his team's seventh consecutive victory. "It's not the preferred recipe for success.''
 
This comeback was more compressed than the rallies against LIU Brooklyn (RMU trailed by 16 points early in the second half) and Saint Francis Brooklyn (the Colonials were down by 12 early in the second half) last weekend.
 
Sophomore Stephan Hawkins, who injured his ankle against LIU Brooklyn but played 31 minutes against Saint Francis Brooklyn, did not dress for the FDU game for precautionary reasons. That left the Colonials with only seven players.
 
"It just added to all the other challenges,'' Toole said.
 
Robert Morris outscored the Knights, 22-2, in the final eight and-a-half minutes and finished the game on a 17-0 run.
 
"Their players got it done late, and we did not,'' FDU coach Greg Herenda said. "It's really hard to win a game when you don't score a point over the last five minutes of the game.''
 
"When we get sidetracked by anything other than winning, we don't play well,'' Toole said. "But we had some great defensive stands against the shot clock.''
 
The Colonials went ahead, 65-64, with 1:25 left when freshman Kavon Stewart made two free throws. Moments later, Anderson made a key play when he rebounded a Jones miss, drew a foul and made two free throws, putting the Colonials up, 67-64.
 
Anderson led the Colonials with 22 points, raising his two-year career total to 999. Jones, who made only 2-of-14 field goal attempts, still produced a 13-10 double-double and had four blocked shots. Myers-Pate contributed 12 points. David Appolon continued his energizing work on the glass with eight rebounds.
 
Anderson (39 minutes) and Myers-Pate (37) were on the court for almost the entire game.
 
UP NEXT: Wagner (11-4) had no trouble against visiting Saint Francis University Thursday night and won its seventh straight game, 74-45, clinching second place in the NEC after beginning league play 3-3.
 
"Our goal for the last few weeks was to finish in the second spot," Wagner coach Bashir Mason told the Staten Island Advance. "For a while, I didn't know if it was possible, but guys really started playing for the guy next to them instead of just for themselves, and that was the difference."
 
Mario Moody scored 19 points for the Seahawks, who led, 35-22, at halftime. Kenny Ortiz added 15 points. Mason was able to rest his starters quite a bit, meaning Wagner will be a bit fresher than the Colonials Saturday evening. It could turn out that each team plays its bench more Saturday, although in RMU's case that's pretty much a moot point.
 
"At this time of year, every college player in the country has something that's not feeling great," Mason said. "But it's not time to make excuses. It's time to make plays."
 
Saint Francis University made just 15-of-60 attempts from the floor, including 7-for-28 from deep. Red Flash standout Earl Brown had only two points and one rebound in his 28 minutes.
 
NEC NUGGETS: Central Connecticut State, which began NEC play 1-6, clinched a spot in the league tournament for the 16th consecutive season with its 86-82 overtime win at LIU Brooklyn. Blue Devil Kyle Vinales forced the overtime by making a long three-pointer just before the regulation buzzer. Faronte Drakeford led CCSU with 25 points, while Brandon Peel supplied a career-high 18 points. Gerrell Martin scored a career-high 31 points for the Blackbirds (4-11), who won the three previous NEC championships but will sit out this season's league tournament. Blackbird point guard Jason Brickman had 12 points and 10 assists, raising his career total in dimes to 997 … Central Connecticut State (6-9) is tied with FDU for the seventh seed in the league tournament. The Blue Devils own the tie-breaker over FDU. CCSU closes the regular season Saturday at Sacred Heart, while FDU finishes at Saint Francis Brooklyn … Sacred Heart pulled off the stunner of the evening, rallying from an 11-point first-half deficit and winning at Mount St. Mary's, 72-65. That ended the Pioneers' 12-game losing streak. Freshman De'von Barnett led Sacred Heart (2-13) with 24 points, making 12-of-16 field goal attempts. Julian Norfleet had 17 points and eight assists for the Mountaineers … Bryant missed its final six shots from the field and lost at Saint Francis Brooklyn, 62-59. Amdy Fall led the Terriers with 21 points, nine rebounds and 10 blocked shots. Brent Jones added 15 points. Dyami Starks scored 20 points for Bryant, while teammate Alex Francis had nine points and 10 rebounds.

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