Meyer On Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. – Well, here we go again. Or, perhaps, here we go yet again.
 
For the seventh time in nine seasons, Robert Morris will play Mount St. Mary's in the Northeast Conference Tournament when the two squads lock horns tonight in the 2014 title game.
 
"It just seems that that's how it always works out,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said.
 
Yep. Just about always, anyway.
 
This season, for the second time in six seasons, the game at the Charles L. Sewall Center (7 p.m., ESPN2) is for the NEC Tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
"Both teams will be excited, championship game, NCAA berth on the line,'' Mountaineer coach Jamion Christian told the Carroll County times. "It's going to really come down to which team understands the details of the game plan (better). I trust my guys.''
 
"It's going to come down to a handful of possessions,'' Toole said. "We know both teams are going to be well prepared. Both teams are going to be fired up. The environment should be incredible. I'm sure it will be a great basketball game. We obviously have great respect for what they've done and their program. We've had a lot of history with them in terms of us being successful, them being successful.''
 
That history is rather interesting.
 
This NEC Tournament-pairing run began in 2006. Remember Colonial Jeremy Chappell's game-winner from the left corner in Emmitsburg?
 
It continued uninterrupted through 2010. After a two-season break, it resumed last season when Mount St. Mary's beat the top-seeded Colonials, 69-60, in the semifinals in the Sewall Center.
 
In the six seasons in which they've met in March, the Colonials own an 8-3 advantage in the teams' regular-season games. However, the teams split the six NEC Tournament games, the last five of which were played in the Sewall Center.
 
This season, the Colonials won the two regular-season games.
 
Now here these teams are again in March.
 
"It's wonderful,'' RMU senior point guard Anthony Myers-Pate said. "They put us out last year, so we're going into the game with a chip on our shoulders. I think it's going to be fun.''
 
"I can't wait,'' Colonial junior Lucky Jones said. "Our coaching staff and our players can't wait as well, especially (those who were here) last year and witnessed what happened. They're a very dangerous team, but at the same time when we get into our house we have a lot of support with us. We're going to try to get the job done.''
 
"I feel like this is the perfect ending to the story,'' Colonial senior guard Karvel Anderson said. "There's no better way to end what the 'Crazy Eight' has been through (than) to end it going through Mount.''
 
There is kind of a "full circle'' piece to Robert Morris playing Mount St. Mary's in the conference championship game. On Jan. 18, the Colonials, at that point down to 10 players, won at Mount St. Mary's, 77-69. A few days later, the Colonials lost another four players, including freshman starter Jeremiah Worthem, to suspensions, leaving them with eight players.
 
The "Eight Is Enough" Colonials are 12-2 since then.
 
"It's just something we're used to now,'' Myers-Pate said. "Adversity is a part of our team.''
 
The Colonials worked through adversity again in the first half against Saint Francis University Saturday when they slogged through another scoreless half from Anderson, their top point-producer, and shot just 25 percent from the field (7-for-28). However, the Red Flash was little better from the field (8-of- 26), so Robert Morris only trailed, 20-15, at the break.
 
"When I went in (the locker room at halftime), I said, 'It doesn't matter if it's 5-0 or 20-15 or 70-65, it's still five points,''' Toole said. "As poorly as we played offensively, we defended well enough to give ourselves a chance.''
 
"None of our shots were falling in the beginning,'' Jones said. "At halftime, I just kept telling our guys, 'You know, we didn't make any shots, but we have to continue to play defense. Defense wins championships. The shots are going to come.'''
 
Anderson, closely guarded primarily by Greg Brown, got off only four shots in the first half.
 
"The first half, they did a very good job of not allowing me to get my jump shot off, whether it was (from) the three-point line or the pull-up from mid-range,'' Anderson said.
 
At halftime, Jones had some advice for his teammate.
 
"You have to turn it up,'' he told Anderson. "You have to (find) the rhythm. Get some easy baskets. Get to the free-throw line.''
 
That message got through loudly and clearly -- and quickly.
 
Just 16 seconds into the second half, Anderson drove into the lane, was fouled and made two free throws.
 
"I just had to attack their feet aggressively and see if I could get a couple easy ones at the free throw line,'' Anderson said.
 
It was a big moment.
 
"I got my shot blocked like 30 times in the first half,'' Anderson said, "so to actually see the ball go through the hoop for the first time in the tournament did a lot for me mentally and kind of helped me loosen up a little bit.''
 
"It was huge, and not just for him, but for everybody,'' Toole said. "We wanted him to be aggressive. We've talked to him a lot about diversifying his offense. I think maybe the last few games he's kind of lived at that three-point line. Every once in a while, you have to let people know that you can get to the paint -- especially the way people are guarding him. They're so physical that if he puts it on the floor and has an advantage there's going to be contact, and the refs have to call that. That's what the NCAA has said. That's the changes they've made. For him to see the ball go through the basket, I think he needed that.''
 
Anderson's drive-and-get-fouled foreshadowed how the Colonials would play the second half. They were more aggressive on offense, resulting in more trips to the free-throw line.
 
Anderson was 12-for-12 from the stripe in the second half and finished with 21 points. As a team, the Colonials, who shot only one free throw in the first half, were 20-of-23 from the free throw line in the second half.
 
"We got into the lane more,'' Toole said. "We attacked better. That's what you have to do. You have to attack. If they're taking away your ability to make perimeter jump shots, you have to get paint points in some fashion, whether it's through penetration (or) whether it's through a post touch. It was what was needed at the time and it was what the defense was giving us, and that's what we took.
 
"(Saint Francis does) a good job of flooding the paint when you drive, so if you don't move them first you're not going to have success. I felt we drove a little bit too soon when we went into the paint (early in the game) and so we were shooting guarded shots. The second half, we were able to execute and get penetration at the end of a set or at the end of motion, and that allowed us to be able to have enough space to either get fouled or, you know, score.''
 
The Colonials scored as many points in the first five minutes of the second half as they did in the entire first half and built a 30-22 lead. Eventually, they expanded that advantage to 45-33 with nine minutes remaining. However, the sixth-seeded Red Flash, who won at Bryant Wednesday night, again showed some grit and cut the RMU lead to 57-56 with 1:35 left.
 
Three free throws by RMU's Dave Appolon and one by SFU's Earl Brown made it 60-57 with 21 seconds remaining and set the stage for the game's final possession.
 
Saint Francis designed a play that would give NEC Rookie of the Year Malik Harmon the ball in the paint. Harmon would then kick the ball out to either Dominique Major or Ben Millaud-Meunier for a three-point attempt that would tie the game.
 
Appolon, though, came up large, as he has throughout this 12-2 run. As Millaud-Meunier passed the ball in the backcourt, Appolon tipped the ball just enough to throw off the Red Flash timing. Harmon could only get off a hurried cast from 32 feet. It went off the rim, and the Colonials (21-12) had prevailed.
 
"That was a great job by them defensively,'' SFU coach Rob Krimmel said.
 
"We did not (want to foul),'' Toole said of RMU's defensive approach. "Once they got it into a scoring area, we did not want to foul, but we wanted to make sure we contested it and Dave Appolon obviously did a great job of using his length in being able to not give them a good look.''
 
It seems as if Appolon does stuff every game that energizes the Colonials and/or tips the game in their favor. In Saturday's game, he made a steal with seven and-a-half minutes gone in the second half and went the length of the court to put in a finger-roll that jacked up the crowd.
 
"It's expected out of him,'' Jones said. "He's a great, great defender with his long arms and his athletic ability. I tell him all the time that we have to be the back line (in the zone) and get every rebound and get every deflection and get every steal, and that's what he's been doing. He's held up his end of the bargain, and I just have to continue to come along and join the trip with him.''
 
Mount St. Mary's (15-16) reached Tuesday's championship game by coming back from a 19-point deficit in the final nine minutes to beat visiting Saint Francis Brooklyn Wednesday night, then winning at Wagner, 77-72, Saturday.
 
On Saturday, the Mountaineers scored eight straight points near the end of the first half to take a 35-31 halftime lead. They dominated the first five minutes of the second half and stretched their lead to 43-33. Wagner, which had won nine straight games, rallied and repeatedly seemed to have Mount St. Mary's on the ropes, but the Mountaineers survived. And advanced.
 
"I think our guys have done a great job all season long of accepting challenges,'' Christian said. "Wagner, what a challenge. We gave a punch. They gave us a punch. We battled back. It was a great college basketball game."
 
Rashad Whack scored 21 points for Mount St. Mary's. Teammates Julian Norfleet and Sam Prescott each added 16 points.
 
"Every time we fought back, they made a shot,'' said Kenny Ortiz, one of four senior starters for Wagner. "They have big-time players.''
 
Wagner (19-12) was picked by the NEC coaches in the preseason to win the NEC championship. That won't happen.
 
"This is on me," Wagner coach Bashir Mason said. "This group was built to get it done this year, and it was on me to figure out a way to make that happen."
 
Instead, it will happen Tuesday night at the Sewall Center. Krimmel said he'll be watching.
 
"It will be a great atmosphere for the conference,'' the SFU coach said. "There will be a lot of passion in the building.''
 
KONCERNING KARVEL: When Anderson made his first throw 16 seconds into the second half Saturday, he ended a personal scoreless streak of 61 minutes, 15 seconds dating to late in the Wagner game, March 1.

When he made a field goal with 11:03 remaining in the second half, he ended a streak of 69:15 without a field goal. And when he drained a three with 5:54 left, he ended a streak of 76:23 since he made a three-pointer with 2:18 remaining in that Wagner game.
 
All of that is in stark contrast to Anderson's late February scoring spree that covered the final 6:43 of the LIU Brooklyn game and the first 12:30 of the Saint Francis Brooklyn game in which he poured in 37 points in 19:14.
 
NEC NUGGETS: In the Saint Francis University game, Anderson set a Robert Morris season scoring record by lifting his total to 628. That elevated him past Myron Walker, who scored 614 points in the 1991-92 season … Jones, who scored 18 points Saturday, has 639 career rebounds, seventh on the Colonials' all-time list. Next up is Keith Jones (1995-99) with 642. Anthony Dickens (1985-90) and Tony Lee (2004-08) share the top spot with 751 … The 20-15 halftime score Saturday was reminiscent of the halftime score of the 2009 NEC Championship game in which the Colonials and Mount St. Mary's bricked their way to a 19-19 tie at intermission. The Colonials won the game, 48-46, on Dallas Green's jump shot with just seconds left … In the Colonials' 69-61 win against Mount St. Mary's in the Sewall Center Feb. 15, Chuck Oliver led RMU with 19 points. That's the only game in the past 14 in which somebody other than Anderson or Jones led the Colonials in scoring … In the past six games, Appolon is averaging 8.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.

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