Men's Basketball 1/5/2015 6:30:00 AM By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: A New Start

Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris lead grew steadily Saturday. Widened incredibly. Basket after stop after basket after stop after basket after stop after basket.

Four minutes into their game against Mount St. Mary's, the Colonials led, 8-0. Ten minutes in, they led, 20-3. Sixteen minutes in, they led, 30-8.

An amazing turn of events.

By halftime, thanks to a four-point play just before the horn by freshman Marcquise Reed, Robert Morris was on top, 36-16.

Staggering, to say the least.

Mount St. Mary's is, after all, the defending champion in the Northeast Conference. The Mountaineers had come into the Charles L. Sewall Center back in March and routed the Colonials, 88-71, in the NEC Tournament championship game. Surely at some point, the Mountaineers would clamp on their full-court press and make a run.

Wouldn't they?

Well, yes. Sort of.

Mount St. Mary's cut its deficit to 14 points , 38-24, just over two minutes into the second half. But that was it. The Colonials brushed aside that "run'' and won this NEC opener, 70-45, in the Sewall Center.

It was the lowest point total managed by Mount St. Mary's against Robert Morris in the 58-game history of this series. It was the second-largest blowout in series history. The Colonials won, 99-71, at home Jan. 24, 1991, which was just the third game of this series.

This 25-point victory certainly was unusual in a rivalry marked by stifling defense and punctuated by physical play.

One would think, then, that that 70-45 score would raise some eyebrows around the NEC.

"I think it's too soon for all of that,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Teams are still trying to sort things out. People might look and see that we shot the ball well (53.5 percent), they didn't shoot the ball well (25 percent) and it was a home game for us. I don't think people will read too much into it. Maybe in a couple weeks if you see some scores like this, you might start to read a little bit more into it, but I think it's really too soon to make decisions off one 40-minute sample size.''

Voice of reason there.

Besides, the Colonials (5-8, 1-0) are right back into it tonight in Loretto, Pa., against Saint Francis University (7-5, 1-0), a really early matchup of league unbeatens.

No time to ponder that 25-point putdown. Note it, certainly, but move on.

"We can't step it down. We can't take our foot off the pedal,'' RMU senior Lucky Jones said. "We have to keep pushing, keep it moving and making sure that everybody understands that we are still Robert Morris. Everybody wants to beat us. Everybody wants to play us. The game on Monday is going to be a high-intensity game. We expect a lot of people to be there. We expect their coach and their players to be ready for us. But at the same time we're going to be ready for them and focused, too. This game is over. We got a good win, but at the end of the day it's on to our next opponent.''

"They're a focused team and they're going to be ready for us Monday night,'' Toole said of the Red Flash. "It should be a fun, exciting atmosphere. I hope our guys are excited for the challenge because I'm pretty positive that Saint Francis will be.''

The Red Flash entered this season with heightened optimism after it finished 7-9 in the NEC last season, upset third-seeded Bryantin the NEC Tournament quarterfinals and then extended top-seeded Robert Morris in the semifinals before losing, 60-57.

Saint Francis was the only NEC team this season to get through non-conference play above .500 and drew considerable attention with its 73-68 win at Rutgers Dec. 20. The Red Flash, which trailed, 37-21, with five and-a-half minutes left in the first half, staged a 40-11 run that gave it a 61-48 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

"(Rutgers was) making some shots and making it difficult for us to defend, and our guys didn't get rattled," Red Flash coach Rob Krimmel said. "That's what got us back in the game, and ultimately I think it's what won the game."

"(It was) a great accomplishment for us," Saint Francis senior Earl Brown said. "A lot of people probably didn't expect us to beat Rutgers. It just shows that we can do it and people honestly believe."

"A lot of it has to do with experience and guys buying into what we believe in as a staff," Krimmel said. "When you feel good when you put the uniform on, you know that you have a chance."

Saint Francis began its NEC season Saturday with a solid 85-68 win against visiting Wagner, which entertains Robert Morris Thursday night. The Red Flash made 13 of its 26 casts from international waters. Brown, who has 64 points and 24 rebounds in the past three games, led Saint Francis with a 20-11 double-double.

Toole thinks some of Saint Francis' early success this season is a carryover from the end of last season.

"I think that's part of it,'' he said. "They have a lot of their roster back. I think a lot of experience and confidence was built during their Northeast Conference Tournament run last year. We know how hard the three games we played against them were, and we don't expect it to be any different (tonight).''

The Colonials last season won all three games against Saint Francis but by a total of only 14 points.

"When you have senior leadership and experience like they do, they're a team that's (improved) each and every year, and they're looking to make that next jump," Toole said. "So far it seems they're poised to do that.''

The Colonials go into the game Monday night with some confidence, too. After stumbling through their non-conference schedule, they put together a very impressive performance against Mount St. Mary's.

"It was basically a new start because what we did in non-conference doesn't have anything to do with conference,'' junior Aaron Tate said. "So like we said in the huddle just before (tipoff), 'A new start.'''

"Coming into conference, we (had) to make sure that we understand that we feel we have one of the best teams in the conference,'' Jones said. "We have a long journey. This is just the beginning.''

Because it got out to such a big lead and kept Mount St. Mary's from hitting many shots, Robert Morris was able to negate the Mountaineers' full-court press.

"It's a way for us to control tempo,'' Toole said. "If we can get stops, it can help us control tempo and keep the game in our favor. It's hard when they get out to a lead and they can start to press and now you really can't control the tempo of the game. We were able to do that by getting stops and then being able to work for a good shot. In past games when we haven't had as much success against the Mount is when they've jumped out and now you have to play from behind. That's hard when they're maybe better at playing faster than you are.''

The game was a tad ragged. Each team had 19 turnovers.

"A lot of our turnovers came on sloppy fast-break situations and some miscommunications,'' Toole said. "We have to clean that up.''

When they did get to run their offense, the Colonials were superb. They had 18 assists on their 23 field goals. Sophomore point guard Kavon Stewart had seven of the 18 assists.

"Very pleased with that,'' Toole said. "The more we can share the ball and continue to move the ball … obviously it started with Kavon. I thought he did a really good job of being aggressive but under control. That's something we talked about, having him get into the teeth of the defense but not selling out to (a shot) or not selling out to one decision. Being able to get in there and then being able to make the right decision once he got in there is important. He kind of started that going.''

The Mount's 1-3-1 zone defense is tough to play against because opposing teams don't see it too often.

"The 1-3-1 zone they play has great size and length to it,'' Toole said. "Sometimes your passing angles or the areas on the floor where you're going to be open are a little bit different. When we made simple plays, we got really good shots. When we tried to complicate it a little bit or do a little bit extra is when we got ourselves in trouble. If we can limit those things, while continuing to have the assists or continuing to have the simple plays, then I think we can be a whole lot more effective offensively."

Stewart's play certainly helped break down the Mountaineers' zone.

"Kavon's a big part of that,'' Toole said. "When he's under control and he's communicating with people and he's helping find shots for people it just makes everybody else at ease. If you're a guy like Rodney (Pryor), who's a good shooter, when Kavon can find you a couple wide-open shots even with a defense that is trying to take you out of the play, well, now you can take a deep breath. If you're Lucky and you can get a couple good clean looks early in the game or a couple driving opportunities early, you take a deep breath. Everybody was kind of able to be at ease because Kavon was able to find some people some shots or create advantages for others to drive and make some plays. I think it starts there and kind of trickles down.''

Partly because of Stewart's largesse, the Colonials shot 59 percent from inside the arc. That resulted in quite the balanced offensive stat sheet. Jones led the Colonials with a game-high 17 points, getting nine of those from the free throw line, and he added a team-high eight rebounds. Reed and Pryor had 12 points each. Freshman Elijah Minnie scored 10 points.

Tate just missed joining his teammates in double figures. As it was, he finished with a very welcome eight points, four rebounds and three assists in his 18 minutes.

"When I get in the game, I try to come in and just play my role,'' Tate said. "I know I'm not a scorer. I know I'm not a go-to guy. I just try to bring energy and defend. On the offensive side, I don't try to look for my shot. I try to look to help out my teammates and get as many offensive rebounds as I can to help out the team, play my role.

"This guy puts in the most work out of everybody,'' Jones said of Tate. "He's the strongest person on the team. He's the most humble person on the team. He doesn't ask for anything. The one thing we ask from him is that he continues to stay that way and continue to just play as hard as he can. When it's his opportunity to make a layup or get a rebound, that's what he does, and we commend him for that. We don't see any flaws in his game. We just know he's a hard-nosed guy. That's the kind of people we need on our team. That's the kind of people we have on our team.''

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