Hamden, Conn. - Quinnipiac outscored the Robert Morris University men's basketball team, 9-3, over the final 4:25 en route to an 81-75 victory Saturday afternoon in a Northeast Conference game at TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. The loss drops RMU to an overall record of 16-10 on the 2006-07 season, including an 8-9 mark in league play, while the Bobcats improved to 13-13 overall and 11-6 in league action.
Robert Morris jumped out to a 7-3 advantage as sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest) scored five points while senior center Freddie Harris (Decatur, Ala. / Lawson State C.C.) chipped in with four. The Bobcats used a 9-2 surge to knot the score at 12-12, but a three-pointer from junior guard Tony Lee (Boston, Mass. / Charlestown) and then another trifecta from Chappell gave the Colonials an 18-14 lead with 13:23 to go in the first half.
DeMario Anderson helped Quinnipiac off the bench, as he scored 12 points in the first half, including a jumper that gave the Bobcats a 23-20 edge with 10:17 remaining before the break. In a first half that featured five ties and nine lead changes, the Bobcats entered halftime with a 44-42 lead thanks to an 11-6 run in the final four minutes of the stanza. Van Crafton hit a pair of three-pointers during the spurt for Quinnipiac, while Adam Gonzalez added five points.
The second half wasn't much different from the first, as it featured a total of nine ties and six lead changes. Chappell knotted the score at 49 with a three-pointer, and his layup with 16:09 to go made the score 51-51. On the layup Chappell was fouled by Crafton, and he converted the three-point play to push the Colonials in front, 52-51. Tied, 58-58, with 11:50 remaining after a jumper from senior guard Derek Coleman (Dorchester, Mass. / Charlestown), the score was the start of a 9-2 spurt that gave RMU a 65-60 lead with 9:36 to play. Senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) hit a three-pointer during the run, while Lee and Chappell each scored two points.
The Bobcats responded with five straight points to tie the score at 65, but Lee's jumper and free throw with 6:49 left in the contest gave the Colonials a 68-65 advantage. Quinnipiac came back to tie the score at 70-70 and used its final surge over the last 4:25 to seal the win.
Anderson paced all scorers in the game with 28 points for the Bobcats, while Robert Morris was led by Chappell and Lee, who each scored 21 points. Coleman added 13 points for RMU, while Jackson recorded a double-double thanks to 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Colonials, still with a possibility to host a first round game in the 2007 NEC Tournament, closes out their regular season Monday, Feb. 26, by hosting Long Island at the Charles L. Sewall Center for a 7:00 p.m. tilt.
Notes: RMU shot just 45.3 percent (29-for-64) on the game thanks to a 1-for-10 performance from the field in the final 4:25 ... Quinnipiac shot an even 50 percent (29-for-58) from the floor ... Lee added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Coleman recorded eight rebounds, four assists and two steals ... Coleman became the 16th player in school history to go over 1,000 career points thanks to his three-pointer with two minutes remaining in the first half and pushed his career point total to 1,009 ... Lee joined Coleman in the RMU 1,000-point club in the second half with a layup off an offensive rebound at the 14:13 mark of the second half and pushed his career point total to 1,008 ... Coleman and Lee are the first pair of high school teammates to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau at Robert Morris as each attended Charlestown High School in Boston, Mass. ... Robert Morris held a 38-36 edge on the glass, including a 12-11 advantage in offensive rebounds ... Quinnipiac outscored the Colonials in points in the paint, 32-22, and points off the bench, 40-6.
