Men's Basketball | 3/16/2015 6:00:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – Lucky Jones had four basketball goals as a teenager.
Win a state championship in high school. Be on a national championship team in high school. Earn a Division I college scholarship. Play in the NCAA Tournament.
He achieved the first three of those at famed Saint Anthony High School in Jersey City, N.J.
Checking that fourth goal off his to-accomplish list took some doing, but this week it will happen.
Jones, the only active senior, will join his Robert Morris teammates in the NCAA Tournament.
"I did it all,'' Jones said. "It's an amazing feeling.''
It's a rather amazing tale, too.
Jones entered his final season at RMU with high hopes. Not only did he want to play on an NCAA Tournament team -- the Colonials had lost in his two previous Northeast Conference championship games -- but he also had high personal aspirations. He wanted to be the NEC Player of the Year, which would mean he'd be a member of the All-NEC First Team.
His career track indicated he had a legitimate shot at realizing that latter hope.
As a freshman, he made the NEC All-Rookie Team. As a sophomore, he made All-NEC Third Team. Last season, he was on the All-NEC Second Team.
Onward and upward.
And then nowhere.
As the season wore on for Jones and the Colonials, it seemed none of that would happen. St. Francis Brooklyn senior Jalen Cannon was scoring and rebounding and double-doubling his way to the NEC Player of the Year awardm and the Terriers were becoming a lock to win the NEC regular-season championship.
The Colonials? They were mired in the midst of what Chris Shovlin, the radio voice of the team, recently and aptly called "an arduous season.''
A month ago, it was all slipping away for Jones and the Colonials.
Then, on a chilly evening in Providence, R.I., the switch flipped.
Finally.
A night earlier, the Colonials had lost at Sacred Heart, 80-76, continuing their frustrating habit of alternating losses with wins.
In a word, they were foundering. And had been.
"What we were was a talented group of individuals who were all trying to kind of establish themselves in different ways on the court that was more beneficial for them than for all of us,'' RMU coach
Andrew Toole said. "We had shown flashes. We knew we had the talent to be a good team, but we weren't a team. We were certainly not a team for a 40-minute stretch of a game, for a Thursday and a Saturday. When certain guys felt good or things were going well for them, they would be fully engaged. And then there were guys who when things weren't going as well for them they wouldn't be as engaged.
"We were constantly fighting that battle of who was going to show up for us, who was going to be consistent for us, who could we rely on, who could we trust. We thought it could be everybody getting better and improving, but we hadn't seen it yet. And to be honest with you, at that point in time I think even as a coaching staff we were saying to ourselves, 'Is the light bulb going to go on? Are we going to be able to figure this out? Are we going to be able to get guys to understand?' There were a lot of questions, a lot of concerns. We were just trying to fight for what we thought was the right way to do things and the best way for our team to be successful.''
Toole and his staff had been asking those questions of themselves for months, and trying to convey that message to the players for just as long.
"We had this conversation multiple times,'' Toole said, "dating back to November, dating back to October and early practice, saying, 'We know we have the pieces, but we have to do things differently. We have to do things better. We have to do things more consistently.' That message was falling on deaf ears too often. I think that's where our frustration as a coaching staff really came from because we understand it's not going to happen overnight, but now we're saying, 'Okay, we're three games away from the end of our (regular) season. Is it ever going to happen?'''
Time was running out rapidly. Oh, the Colonials knew by then they'd be in the NEC Tournament, but that wouldn't matter much if all these pieces couldn't be put together in what definitely was a puzzle.
Adding to the situation was that Jones hadn't played for two games because of a suspension and an injury. The feeling grew that perhaps Jones, for whatever reasons, might not play again.
"We lose at Sacred Heart. Lucky does not play,'' Toole said. "I think a couple things were important there. We'd come off a dramatic win against Central Connecticut State where we didn't deserve to win the game but for some reason or somehow we ended up winning the game. I thought
Marcquise Reed in that game really kind of took that game over in the second half in terms of his poise, his desire to win, his swagger. Coach (Joe) Gallo mentioned it after the game -- 'Did you see Marcquise in the timeouts? It was like he was locked in.' For whatever reason, he was locked in that day. I thought that was a really positive sign.
"We win the game. The guys were really excited because
Aaron Tate makes the (winning) shot. Everybody loves Aaron and respects Aaron, and so they were all excited. It was a really good moment for us. We have OK practices that week. We go to Sacred Heart. Lucky does not play. We lose the game by four. But in that game I felt like
Rodney Pryor started to emerge a little bit. He had a really good scoring night, but his communication in the huddles was great. Even after we lost, I said, 'OK, the
Marcquise Reed from Saturday is the
Marcquise Reed we need and the
Rodney Pryor from Thursday is the
Rodney Pryor we need moving forward.' Guys were disappointed that we lost the game Thursday, but we tried to turn the page quickly on Friday, saying that the Bryant game is really what matters because that's going to determine a lot from a seeding standpoint.''
Right about then is when things got right.
"We have a good workout Friday. Lucky doesn't practice,'' Toole said. "We're getting ready to go to dinner Friday night, and Lucky says, 'I have something to say.'''
This was not exactly like that scene in "Hoosiers'' in which Jimmy Chitwood said, "I think it's time for me to start playing ball,'' but it proved just as impactful for the Colonials.
What Jones said was, "I want to apologize to my teammates and coaches for some of my actions, and I miss being on the court with you guys.''
Assistant coach
Robby Pridgen asked Jones: "Well, aren't you injured?''
"I have some injuries, but I think I can play through them,'' Jones said. "I'd like to be on the court.''
Later that evening, Toole talked with Jones.
"I'm confused, Luck,'' Toole said. "I don't know really what you want or what's going on or whatever.''
"Well, I want to play,'' Jones said. "I want to be a part of the team. I want to help the team. I think I can help the team on the court. I want to help.''
Jones' feelings arose from serious soul-searching he'd done. Perhaps he realized he wouldn't be the player of the year. Might not even make the All-NEC First Team. But that goal of playing in the NCAA Tournament? That was still attainable.
"It's crazy because from the outside looking in you would never know how much one can handle,'' Jones said. "You know, everybody says he's this or he's that or why is this happening? But people don't understand sometimes you have to sacrifice. Whatever you want to sacrifice, whatever you want to get this year, sacrifice it for the team. Sacrifice it for a championship. It wasn't difficult. It was just something I had to choose to do. I had to step up and be a man.
"I was actually thinking hard. 'Was it all worth it. Did I cheat the process? Is it not going to happen for me? Is my legacy going to end with me not going to the NCAA Tournament?' I wanted to know what I could have done to change that. I talked it over with myself -- deeply. I talked it over with the coaches, some of the players I'm really, really close to like Dave (Appolon) and Kavon (Stewart) and Marcquise and Rodney. Aaron definitely helped me out. He said how much the team needs me to perform at a high level and to play as hard as I could play. I said, 'You know what? What the heck. Just give it a try.'''
That was all well and good. However, per team policy, Jones had to be voted back on the team by his teammates.
Toole addressed the team with Jones out of the room.
"It's your decision,'' Toole told them. "I'll support you guys either way, but just so you understand, if Lucky does come back he's going to come off the bench (rather than start), and we're not dealing with attitudes from anybody anymore.''
The vote was unanimous. Jones was back.
"Then we went to bed,'' Toole said. "I didn't really know what was going to happen.''
What happened was this -- Jones came off the bench the next afternoon, scored 14 points, had six rebounds, contributed three assists. The Colonials won, 76-70.
Coming off the bench rather than starting was not a big deal for him.
"I still played the same amount of minutes that I played when I was a starter,'' Jones said. "I just didn't get my name called (when the starting lineups were announced). At the end of the day, when I got in the game, same rules apply -- go out there and be the best
Lucky Jones you can be and help this team win a championship. My whole plan was to assert myself on the defensive end. It wasn't anything else. It was my plan to say, 'Yo! Let's go! Quit all the (stuff). You know you can get a shot over anybody in the NEC. Let's go out there and just get (defensive) stops and try to work on stopping people.'''
"We had a great win,'' Toole said. "Rodney was terrific.
Elijah Minnie had a great second half. Lucky played excellent. He just really played within himself. That's what we talked about after the game -- that if everyone just does what they're supposed to do we could get on a roll. That's what happened.''
The Colonials haven't lost since that defeat at Sacred Heart. They enter the NCAA Tournament with a season-best six-game winning streak that includes that 66-63 victory at St. Francis Brooklyn last Tuesday night that netted them the NEC championship.
They can think back to that night in Providence and the next afternoon at Bryant that seems to have been …
"The turning point? Yes,'' Toole said. "I think, too, it's the personality of this team. Part of our responsibility as coaches is figure out the personality and how things are going to work well. This is a team that's concerned with shooting and scoring -- more than other teams we've had. When Lucky came back, it really helped us because Rodney and Marcquise for the first three or four minutes of games could get their offensive feel and flow, settle in, be comfortable, and then Lucky could come in the game. He can get his feel and his flow, settle in, be comfortable. Then we can just worry about playing.
"At times early in games when the three of them were on the floor there would be some, and I don't want to say it in a negative way, but I think it didn't allow everyone to play as freely as they wanted because depending on who shot and scored sometimes that would change the dynamics of other things.
"Then the other thing that was great about the way things worked out was that Lucky's so versatile and so capable of playing so many different spots that it gave us such a boost when he would come in off the bench to kind of fill any hole that we needed. In the Bryant game,
Elijah Minnie wasn't great in the beginning of the game. Lucky can go in and play that forward spot and we don't miss a beat. In the championship game, Marcquise gets two fouls. Lucky can go in and play the guard spot and we don't miss a beat. To have an all-conference player come off your bench and provide a boost with his experience and knowledge was a great benefit to the coaches.
"Like I said, I think across the board guys have played their best basketball in the last three and-a-half weeks, and a lot of it has been because they're just worried about trying to win and keep playing. That (Bryant game) was kind of a huge moment for us, but again I think that game against Central when Marcquise kind of grew up some more and that Thursday game (at Sacred Heart) where Rodney kind of grew up some more helped take some weight off of Luck. And Kavon became much more focused. Elijah obviously raised his level. I think that all of those things kind of combined with Lucky coming back allowed us to play the way we needed to in order to win.''
Fittingly, Jones was a central figure in the final seconds of the Colonials' victory at St. Francis Brooklyn with Cannon on the court. He made two free throws to account for the final score, then missed two free throws with a couple seconds remaining that could have rendered the Terriers' final possession moot.
Incredible that Jones, an 80 percent free throw shooter, could miss two in that situation.
"Never did it in four years,'' Jones said. "I couldn't hold my composure because I was crying at the line. I didn't understand why I was crying, then I thought about it and it was like, 'I can't believe this is really happening to me right now. I just can't believe this is really happening. It's really coming true and I'm able to get a chance to go to the (NCAA) tournament.'''
Jones' thoughts continued.
"I was actually so excited about what was going on, how the tables were turned,'' he said. "Elijah made some incredible shots. Rodney did what Rodney's been doing this whole season. I was embracing the moment.''
Finally, there was this.
"The way I did it this year, through all the ups and downs, the suspensions, the injuries and all the 'You're not living up to your potential,''' Jones said. "I don't really care about all that. All I can say now is that I'm a champion. Yeah, I didn't get Player of the Year, but (Cannon) deserved it. He played his heart out for four years. He and I had some great battles. Not taking anything away from him, but it was probably the best feeling to beat somebody like him on his court.''
And, of course, to get that final to-do thing off his list.
