Men's Basketball 2/4/2015 5:00:00 AM By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: Energy And Effort

Moon Township, Pa. – Last Thursday night, it seemed the Robert Morris Colonials finally had gotten it.

After weeks of erratic play, they appeared to have coalesced into a team that at last realized exactly what was required to play winning basketball.

They'd just fairly dusted Fairleigh Dickinson, 87-65, in the Charles L. Sewall Center for their fourth consecutive win. They were tied for first place in the Northeast Conference. Upon reaching the halfway mark of their NEC schedule, they seemed to have turned the corner.

Alas, two days later, when they really did turn the corner and begin the second half of their NEC schedule, the Colonials had a relapse. Playing Bryant at home, with a chance to at worst remain tied for first place and deal a top contender a defeat, the Colonials lost, 71-68.

"We didn't come out like we were supposed to, and for the rest of the game we were trying to play catchup," junior Aaron Tate said. "We couldn't get over the hump. We really didn't come out and play like we know we can play.''

The Colonials came out flat, which was surprising considering they were playing at home, they'd won four in a row and they were in the thick of the NEC race.

"There was a lack of energy (Friday during practice) and a lack of energy (Saturday) morning and a lack of energy (Saturday) afternoon,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Unfortunately, we've talked about our team and inconsistency or immaturity at times, and this is a case in point. You win four games in a row, which is your longest streak, and even in the second half of FDU we kind of let our guard down defensively. Everyone's got it figured out. What happens is, you play against another good team that is well coached and attacks some of your weaknesses, and if you don't bring the proper energy and effort, they exploit that. That's exactly what they did.''

But why would the Colonials come out with almost no energy?

"I can pinpoint it real easily -- it's immaturity,'' Toole said. "It's the mental approach. It's how you prepare yourself. It's following the process day in and day out. Sometimes it's difficult to deal with adversity, but it's also sometimes difficult to deal with success. So when you're not the most mature and you win four games in a row, you feel like all you have to do is show up, and that's the farthest thing from the truth. That's what we tried to do -- just show up and play. Again, we discussed all this stuff before the game and tried some way to kick-start the thought process and the brain power. You could see it in the first half. Guys were just kind of out there going through the motions, hoping Bryant would miss, or standing around and hoping they would just give us a wide open shot. We went back offensively to taking contested jump shots, which we had gotten away from. It reared its ugly head again (Saturday). Every loose ball they beat us to. Every effort play they beat us (on). Because we have some talent we still gave ourselves a chance, but when you try and turn it on late a lot of times you get burned.''

And the Colonials did.

Now they're 7-3 in the NEC and tied with Bryant for second place, a game behind St. Francis Brooklyn (8-2), entering their weekend trip to LIU Brooklyn and Fairleigh Dickinson.

Despite their sluggish start against Bryant, the Colonials were within a point (23-22) with 5:44 left in the first half. Then the Bulldogs went on a run -- really a jog -- and built a 31-24 halftime lead.

"When we went into the locker room at halftime we were building that mentality that we were going to come out and hit them in the mouth and play like we know how to play,'' Tate said.

That didn't happen.

The Bulldogs increased their lead to 38-28 during the first four minutes of the second half.

Finally, RMU showed some life. Lucky Jones knocked down back-to-back treys, and quickly it was 38-34.

"All of a sudden it's like someone jump-started the car,'' Toole said. "But again when you're just going through the motions and kind of faking it, it's really hard to get that energy level to where you need it. Their guy would just go drive for a layup. You can't have those kinds of breakdowns. You can't just fake it. Early in the game, we took some contested shots. We took some bad shots. Then, when guys were coming down the court you could see poor body language. It's a tell-tale sign of some immaturity.

"We weren't scoring. On mature teams if you're not scoring, you understand how much more important defense is. We're trying to get guys to believe defense is important period. Then, when you're not scoring, you almost need it more. We're having a hard time getting that through to this group a little bit, and it's something we haven't had difficulty doing previously. We won games shooting 28 percent in the past, and no one could care less because we won the game. One of my biggest fears is that early in the game we don't get it going offensively and then how will we respond? It's easy when you're making some shots and guys are feeling good, but how do you handle it when you're not making some of those shots?''

After Jones got the Colonials to within four points, the Bulldogs just shrugged and went back to work.

"Every single time we would get going,'' Tate said, "you could hear their players say, 'We're good,' and then they would go down and score a bucket and that would just kill the hype.''

Bryant regained its 10-point lead, 50-40, with 8:49 remaining.

Perhaps sensing it was now or never, the Colonials rallied behind Jones and freshman Marcquise Reed.

A three-pointer by Jones, his fourth make from deep in seven casts in the second half, cut Bryant's lead to 69-68 with 10.5 seconds left.

Joe O'Shea made two free throws, giving the Bulldogs a 71-68 lead, and with six seconds remaining the Colonials had their final shot.

Tate inbounded the ball and threw deep into the frontcourt, thwarting Bryant's plan.

"We were going to foul in the backcourt, but Andy had them throw it long,'' Bryant coach Tim O'Shea said. "Andy does a great job with end-of-game plays.''

Jones caught Tate's heave on the right side and went up to shoot a three.

"I'm thinking, 'He can't make another one,''' O'Shea said.

He didn't. RMU's Rodney Pryor did get the rebound, but there was time only for an errant pass back to Jones, which turned into a loose ball and the game ended.

"Disappointing loss,'' Toole said, "but sometimes you get what you deserve, and I think that's what we deserved. Bryant clearly deserved to win the game more than we did. They respected (the game) much better. They played together much better. They made the plays down the stretch. Like I said, it's disappointing because it's hard to lose home conference games, especially to teams that are one game behind you or have a similar record to you, because of the home court advantage in the (NEC) tournament.''

Robert Morris got back into the game by scoring 28 points in the final 8:49. A lot -- but too late.

"It was crunch time and guys stepped up,'' Reed said. "But we needed that throughout the whole game.''

"We started to move the ball and attack,'' Toole said. "Bryant played a matchup zone. It's a defense we have not seen this year. It's a true matchup and they're guarding men in their area and passing men off. It's hard to create set offense against it, so you have to move the ball, move yourself a little bit, and then you have to attack. We started to attack (late), and when you attack it doesn't matter what defense you play (against). If you can get into the teeth of the defense and collapse the defense and then get good ball movement from that, you're going to end up with good shots. But at the beginning of the game we just kind of stood around, and that's exactly what that defense tries to make you do -- stand around. All of us that have it all figured out fell right into the trap.''

Pryor having an off-day didn't help. The junior against FDU was 10-of-14 from the field, including 7-of-10 from beyond the arc, and scored a career-high 28 points. Against Bryant, Pryor was 2-of-14 from the floor, including an improbable 0-of-9 from deep, and managed only seven points.

Reed scored a team-high 20 points and impressed O'Shea.

"He was tremendous, unbelievable,'' O'Shea said. "He's a big-time player. Forget (Reed) making the all-rookie team. He may be all-conference.''

Jones made a big impact on and off the court. He scored 19 points, including 14 in the second half, and had a team-high eight rebounds. But he also hit his head hard on the bleachers trying to come up with that loose ball just before the final horn.

Jones needed some medical attention but was able to walk off the court. Only moments before that, senior Dave Appolon, trying to make a game-tying drive-and-layup, injured his shoulder.

For the second straight game, sophomore point guard Kavon Stewart played sparingly in the second half -- only seven minutes after intermission. In his 19 total minutes, he had three points, two assists and five turnovers.

"They weren't necessarily guarding him in the second half,'' Toole said. "They're a team that doesn't force a whole lot of turnovers. It was something we talked about going into the game, that if we turn it over, it's going to be pretty much because we make an error. I felt we needed to try and get our best scoring group out there. When Kavon is locked in, he's a huge piece of why we do score. (Saturday) he just didn't necessarily have it, so we were just trying to figure out what we could do to win the game.''

At halftime of the Bryant game, Robert Morris inducted six people into its Hall of Fame. One was Tony Lee, the former Colonial basketball standout.

Lee, who lives and works in Boston, Mass., definitely enjoyed his return to the Sewall Center.

"It meant everything to me,'' Lee said. "Like I said in my Hall of Fame speech (Friday evening), when I stepped on this campus I told (then coach) Mark Schmidt that I would give him and Robert Morris everything I had for the four years that I'm going to be here, and I think for those four years that I was here I gave Robert Morris everything that I had. I gave them tons of energy, tons of intensity. Not only that, I made others around me better, and I think that's what's kind of special about me. Not only did I get better as a person, as a student, as a basketball player, but I made everyone around me better.''

During that Friday evening speech and during his time in the Sewall Center, Lee constantly praised RMU President Gregory Dell'Omo, whom Lee likes and respects.

"I think I made it OK, or made it cool, for guys to run up on him and speak to him, to be sociable with him,'' Lee said of his time as an RMU student-athlete.

Lee sat courtside for both the FDU and Bryant games. He conceded that he'd have liked to have been on the court instead.

"Just seeing those guys running up and down, grabbing rebounds, blocking shots,'' he said before Saturday's game. "I'm seeing open positions -- 'Go to the middle! Go to the middle! Block it!' I was into the game. Definitely, I would have liked to have been out there, but I'm definitely having a good time watching these guys play hard, play for Toole. It was neat seeing Toole on the sidelines. It was bittersweet, but I'm going to take it as a little bit more sweet than bitter. Bitter because I wish I was out there, but sweet because I see Toole doing his thing -- coaching. Because when Toole first came, he was a young man. He was (only) a couple years older than us. So for me to see Toole go from there to where he is now is unbelievable.''

NEC NUGGETS: LIU Brooklyn Saturday dropped to 4-6 in NEC play with an 81-64 loss to St. Francis Brooklyn. Gerrell Martin led the Blackbirds with 18 points. St. Francis Brooklyn had a solid offensive performance -- 50.8 percent from the field and 13-of-15 from the free throw line. Brent Jones scored 15 points and added eight assists; Jalen Cannon had 11 points and nine rebounds … Wagner moved to 6-4 in the league with an 86-55 rout of visiting Central Connecticut State (1-9). Marcus Burton led the Seahawks with 21 points. Wagner outrebounded CCSU, 54-32. Faronte Drakeford led the Blue Devils with 26 points … St. Francis University (6-4) handed visiting Fairleigh Dickinson (2-8) its eighth consecutive loss, 68-63. Earl Brown produced an 18-12 double-double for the Red Flash … Mount St. Mary's also improved to 6-4, winning at Sacred Heart, 77-71. The Mountaineers received 21 points from Byron Ashe, made 19 of their 20 free throw attempts and shot 12-of-24 from deep. Tevin Falzon had a 19-10 double-double for the Pioneers, who were 23-of-35 from the free throw line.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones: G/F; 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.

#3 Kavon Stewart: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.

#24 Aaron Tate: F; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

#2 Marcquise Reed: G; 6' 3"; Freshman; Fr.

#11 Rodney Pryor: G; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones
: 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.
: G/F

#3 Kavon Stewart
: 6' 0"; Sophomore; So.
: G

#24 Aaron Tate
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: F

#2 Marcquise Reed
: 6' 3"; Freshman; Fr.
: G

#11 Rodney Pryor
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: G