Moon Township, Pa. - Mount St. Mary's shot 54.3 percent (25-for-46) from the field and posted a 35-27 edge in rebounding in upsetting the No. 1 seed of the NEC Tournament Sunday afternoon with an 83-65 win over Robert Morris at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
The Mount improved to 17-14 overall and will advance to the NEC Tournament championship game against either Sacred Heart or Wagner Wednesday, March 12.
The Colonials had their school record 14-game winning streak snapped, dropping to 26-7 overall. Despite the loss, RMU will make its first appearance in the NIT Tournament.
Senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) gave Robert Morris an early 3-0 lead with a three-pointer, but Mount St. Mary's scored the next 12 points of the game and never trailed again. Will Holland scored five points during the surge, while Jeremy Goode hit a three-pointer.
The Colonials used an 11-2 surge to knot the game, 14-14, but the Mount answered the run as Kelly Beidler and Goode each hit from long range to push Mount St. Mary's to a 20-14 advantage. Junior guard Bateko Francisco (Paris, France / Fort Scott J.C.) scored four points during RMU's spurt, while junior guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest) connected on a three-pointer.
The lead swelled to eight for the Mount, 26-18, after a dunk by Beidler, and Robert Morris was only able to cut its deficit to seven at halftime, 38-31.
Mount St. Mary's kept up the pressure at the start of the second half, using a 6-2 spurt out of the gates to take a 44-33 lead with 17:53 remaining. Sam Atupem hit a pair of layups, while Goode converted a fastbreak layup.
Robert Morris called timeout and quickly cut its deficit to 44-40 thanks to seven straight points as Jackson contributed five and Francisco hit a layup. The Mount countered by scoring nine of the game's next 10 points to open up a 53-41 lead with 12:28 to play, including a three-pointer from Jean Cajou and layups from Sam Atupem and Markus Mitchell. RMU was unable to trim the Mount's lead to single digits the rest of the contest.
Goode scored a game-high 23 points, hitting six of his eight shots from the floor and finishing 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Beidler and Cajou added 15 and 13 points, respectively, off the bench, while Holland finished with 11.
The Colonials were led by Chappell, who finished with 20 points. Jackson added 16 points, while Francisco and Lee each chipped in with 10.
Robert Morris will await for its opponent in the NIT Tournament, which will be announced Sunday, March 16, 2008. First round games will take place at campus sites Tuesday, March 18, and Wednesday, March 19.
