By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Jan. 30, 2010
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - A Robert Morris University fan glancing quickly at the boxscore from Thursday night's game against Long Island might think Colonial guard Karon Abraham had an off night.
That fan would see the "1" in Abraham's field goal column and think, "Dang!'' That fan would look at Abraham's point total - 6. Uh, not too good for the Colonials' leading scorer this season.
Well, not so fast there.
Another glance at that boxscore also shows a "1'' in the field goal column for Long Island standout Jaytornah Wisseh, the Blackbirds' leading scorer this season.
And that "1'' certainly was a much larger factor in the outcome - which that same boxscore shows as "Robert Morris 66, Long Island 58'' - than Abraham getting just his one field goal.
That's because Abraham played tenacious defense against Wisseh during the freshman's season-high 36 minutes on the Sewall Center court. Abraham limited Wisseh to 1-for-12 shooting and helped force LIU's senior guard into eight turnovers, tying his career-worst.
"I thought they did a tremendous job on guarding Jaytornah, who I think is one of the best guards in this league,'' LIU coach Jim Ferry said. "I thought they did a really good job of making him work and wearing him down. I think it showed in Karon's statistics. He spent a lot of time guarding Jaytornah, and he didn't have his shot tonight because he was a little worn out.''
Velton Jones and Mezie Nwigwe made sure Abraham's defensive effort would not go unrewarded by combining for 41 points for the Colonials (13-8, 8-1 in the Northeast Conference). Jones' 21 points are a career-high for the redshirt freshman; Nwigwe's 20 points also are a career-high and continued quite an offensive run for the senior, who is averaging 11.9 points per game over his past nine games.
"Velton killed us,'' said Ferry, whose team fell to 8-12 overall and 6-3 in the NEC. "I thought he was tremendous. He really broke us down. Mezie is very much like Jaytornah. He's been around winning a lot. Now it's his turn. And he's kind of sniffing it out. I thought he was the main reason that they beat Monmouth when they got down (in the second half last Saturday). Mezie really just turned it on. He's playing at another level right now -- his confidence, his aggressiveness. He's doing a very good job, I think, of putting these guys on his back a little bit.''
Wisseh entered the game averaging 16.8 points a game and wound up with nine - ending his run of nine consecutive double-figure scoring games.
"Probably one of the reasons (Abraham) was 1-for-7 (from the field) is that he really defended his tail off,'' RMU coach Mike Rice said. "I give him a lot of credit. It's not about scoring all the time. I told him after the game, 'You made so many winning plays tonight with your defense - fighting over screens and becoming bothersome to Wisseh.'''
Abraham's defensive clamp-down on Wisseh was reminiscent of a similar stifling Bateko Francisco put on Wisseh at the Sewall Center last season. On Dec. 6, 2009, Francisco, who would go on to be named NEC Defensive Player of the Year, held Wisseh to 1-of-14 shooting and six points in the Colonials' 81-70 win.
"Bateko Francisco defended Wisseh as well as anybody,'' Rice recalled. "He was just a nightmare to the kid.''
The Colonials gladly will take another superlative defensive effort by Abraham Saturday night when junior guard Ricky Cadell and the St. Francis (N.Y.) Terriers visit the Sewall Center.
"Cadell is just as tough as Wisseh,'' Nwigwe noted.
Cadell scored 29 points against the Colonials in the first meeting between the two clubs this season, a 67-63 RMU victory in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jan. 9. Cadell also scored 29 points in his team's 71-63 loss at Saint Francis (Pa.) Thursday night. Over his past six games, Cadell has scored 125 points - almost 21 per game.
Since that game at St. Francis (N.Y.) earlier this month, the Colonials have tightened things up defensively. Over their past four games, they've held opponents to 31.8 percent shooting from the field, including 26.1 percent accuracy from beyond the arc.
That's helped the Colonials take the league lead in field goal percentage defense (.374) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.324) in NEC games.
The Terriers (9-11, 6-3) arrive at the Sewall Center after facing a great defensive effort themselves at Saint Francis (Pa.). The Red Flash held St. Francis (N.Y.) to 3-for-10 shooting from the field in the first half and 38.6 percent shooting for the game.
"I don't know if I've ever been in a game where a team has attempted so few field goals in the first half,'' Terrier coach Brian Nash said. "I know we shot a lot of free throws, but 3-for-10 in the first half is kind of an amazing stat. And then all the turnovers.''
The Terriers, who made 15-of-20 free throw attempts in the first half, had 15 turnovers by halftime - on their way to a game total of 24.
"I give Saint Francis (Pa.) all the credit,'' Nash said. "They came out (and) pressured the heck out of us and they didn't let us run our offense and they forced us into turnovers. We weren't ready for it. We laid an egg in the first half.''
The Terriers trailed, 39-21, at halftime but rallied and made it a two-point game, 52-50, with five and-a-half minutes left. However, the Red Flash steadied and raised their NEC record to 4-5.
"We are making strides,'' Red Flash coach Don Friday said. "We are making strides.''
Devin Sweetney led the Red Flash with 23 points.
PERUNICIC UPDATE: Colonial fans probably remember that Terrier Stefan Perunicic had quite an NEC debut at the Sewall Center Dec. 4, 2008. The 6'6" forward was 10-of-14 from the field - including an eyebrow-raising 7-for-11 display from beyond the arc - and scored 28 points in the Terriers' 87-79 victory.
However, in three games against the Colonials since, Perunicic has scored a total of just 16 points and shot 4-of-11 from downtown.
QUINNIPIAC KEEPS PACE: The Bobcats (14-6, 8-1) retained their share of the NEC lead with Robert Morris by winning at Wagner, 66-57, Thursday night. James Feldeine had 21 points and eight rebounds and Justin Rutty had 15 points and 10 rebounds as Quinnipiac won its eighth straight game. The Bobcats were 24-of-33 at the free throw line; Wagner was 6-of-11. Freshman Danny Mundweiler came off the bench to lead the Seahawks with 10 points.
GOOD TO BE HOME: Mount St. Mary's, the NEC coaches' pick to win the league this season, played six of its first eight league games on the road and began the league season 2-6. However, the Mountaineers beat visiting Sacred Heart, 64-52, Thursday night, signaling they'll still be a factor.
"Right now, we're boiled down to a 10-game season,'' Mountaineer coach Milan Brown told the Carroll County Times. "We're leaving the past in the past and we can write the story however we want to. The great thing right now is we still control our own destiny.''
Sacred Heart (12-8, 5-4) trailed, 33-16, with six and-a-half minutes left in the first half but staged a 26-6 run that gave the Pioneers a 42-39 lead six minutes into the second half. However, Mount St. Mary's regrouped and went on a 25-4 run of its own to take control for good.
Sacred Heart, playing its third game since standout guard Chauncey Hardy was suspended by coach Dave Bike, shot just 35 percent from the field and was only 1-of-9 from downtown in the second half.
"They affected our shooting and they affected our passing, and on defense I guess that's a pretty good way to play,'' Bike said.
The Pioneers outrebounded Mount St. Mary's, 42-31, but 22 Pioneer turnovers negated that advantage.
CENTRAL SHORT: Central Connecticut State beat visiting Monmouth, 66-44, despite not having leading scorer Robby Ptacek (ankle), David Simmons (heel) and Jonathan Tull (foot) available Thursday night. And the Blue Devils have been without star Ken Horton (hip) all season.
Didn't matter much.
The Blue Devils (6-14, 3-6) received 16 points from Markeys Dean and Chris Baskerville and 15 more from Joe Seymore while getting 22 assists on their 25 field goals. Monmouth (9-12, 5-4), playing its third game without suspended forward Travis Taylor, had only two assists on its 15 field goals, shot 28.3 percent from the field and made just 1-of-17 from beyond the arc.
"This was our best effort of the season on both sides of the ball,'' CCSU coach Howie Dickenman said.
"There's not much to say,'' Monmouth coach Dave Calloway said. "We got beat in every phase of the game.''
STILL NO BULLDOGS BARK: Bryant (0-21, 0-9) remains winless after losing to visiting Fairleigh Dickinson 67-55. The Bulldogs, who lost leading scorer Cecil Gresham to an injury a couple months ago, were just 9-of-33 from three-point range and were 4-of-7 at the foul line.
FDU (6-15, 5-4) shot 51.2 percent from the field and was 16-of-23 at the free throw line. Terence Grier and Sean Baptiste each scored 20 points, while point guard Mike Scott contributed nine assists.
"We're not far away at all,'' Bryant coach Tim O'Shea said. "When is it going to turn? You just have to keep persevering. I had no problem with our effort tonight. We played really hard and we were very competitive. (We) really are a much better team than (we) were (a few) months ago, but it's just getting over that hump. We still have six of nine left at home, and I think (with) that type of effort you saw tonight we're going to get some wins.''
NEC NUGGETS: Nwigwe was 10-of-11 from the free throw line in RMU's victory. That helped the Colonials to a 22-of-28 performance (78.6 percent), their best of the season from the stripe … On the other hand, the Colonials' bench contribution of seven points against Long Island was their lowest this season … Nwigwe's nine rebounds Thursday night represent his career high. But they couldn't prevent the Colonials from being outrebounded, 43-30 … The Blackbirds had 21 offensive rebounds. Even so, the Colonials outscored LIU in the paint 32-16 … Freshman Raven Barber led Mount St. Mary's with a season-high 15 points … The Mountaineers were just 10-of-20 from the free throw line; Sacred Heart was 4-of-6.
