By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
March 7, 2011 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - The semifinal special served Sunday by the Northeast Conference sure was something.

"Without a doubt,'' Robert Morris University coach Andrew Toole said. "It was incredible.''

Not only did Toole's Colonials emerge from their trip to Quinnipiac with a 64-62 victory, but the Long Island Blackbirds a couple hours earlier held off visiting Central Connecticut State, 69-67, in their Northeast Conference Tournament semifinal.

"It was interesting,'' RMU senior guard Gary Wallace said. "And it was fun.''

"Fun'' is not the word Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore used.

"I'm devastated,'' Moore said. "The team is devastated.''

The Colonials' heroics in Hamden, Conn., Sunday meant that for the second straight season they'd burst Quinnipiac's NEC Tournament hopes.

Last season, they did it with a 52-50 win in the NEC championship game. And then they did it again Sunday with another two-point triumph.

In both games, Velton Jones was the late-game deal-clincher for Robert Morris.

Last season, his floater in the lane with 1:18 remaining put the Colonials ahead, 50-48.

Sunday, his short floater from the right side of the lane with four seconds left gave them the win.

"He is a warrior,'' Wallace said. "He loves the big moment. He's an all-around warrior.''

Sunday, Jones continued his late-season surge by scoring 13 points, dishing eight assists, getting three rebounds and making three steals.

"It's getting stupid,'' Toole said of Jones' penchant for big games. "He was everywhere (Sunday). Not only did he make a big shot, but he controlled the tempo. He had eight assists. He was firing guys up, screaming at dudes. We all know how competitive he is. He's willing to do whatever it takes to win. It's nice when you have your most competitive player in that frame of mind. I hope he's got another one in his tank.''

That "one'' will be Wednesday night when the Colonials (18-13) play at Long Island (26-5) for the NEC championship and the league's berth in the NCAA Tournament.

If Jones somehow comes up large again and the Colonials win Wednesday, the sophomore guard almost without doubt will be voted the NEC Tournament's Most Valuable Player. In RMU's first two tourney games, he scored a combined 42 points and had 14 assists.

However, it would be hugely unfair to other Colonials to make Jones the star of the highlight reel for the Quinnipiac game.

"Everybody who played in that game did something to help us win,'' Toole said. "They were so locked in. It was awesome.''

Redshirt freshman guard Coron Williams once again filled in admirably for injured guard Karon Abraham. Williams had a game-high 15 points and - again - shot phenomenally from the field. He was six of eight, including three of four from beyond the arc.

In his past five games, Williams has scored 81 points. He's 28 of 40 from the field and an Ohio State-like 16 for 22 from international waters.

"He's actually very similar to Abraham,'' Moore told the New Haven Register. "I'm very impressed at how confident he's been. He's shooting the ball well. I don't think Abraham's absence changes the team too much defensively, and that's what Robert Morris does. They defend. Offensively they're a little different (without Abraham), but Williams has played fantastic and they haven't missed a beat.''

Sophomore Lijah Thompson had another solid game, scoring 14 points.

"He was asking for the basketball,'' Toole said. "And he was great defensively. He was impressive.''

The Colonials also received 14 very welcome points from sophomore Russell Johnson, who last scored that many points in a game Feb. 3. This 14-point performance came on the heels of his no-point, one-shot no-show in the quarterfinal game against Wagner last Thursday.

In short, it was Russell's best game since, uh ...

"In a long time,'' Toole said. "He made some great offensive plays. He hit some big shots. He rebounded. He was terrific.''

Last Friday, Johnson sat down with assistant coach Robby Pridgen and watched the tape of last season's NEC championship game at Quinnipiac. In that game, Johnson had nine points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal.

"They watched that game to remind Russell of the player he used to be,'' Toole said. "He had a good game (at Quinnipiac last season). He was flying around.''

All the Colonials Sunday played their trademark tough defense.

Thompson, Lawrence Bridges and Yann Charles held Justin Rutty, the Bobcats' outstanding senior center, to nine points - and only two in the second half.

"They were unbelievable,'' Toole said. "Rutty couldn't get a touch in the second half.''

Wallace and Jones, primarily, had the defensive assignment against guard James Johnson, Quinnipiac's leading scorer this season at 16.1 points per game. On Jan. 27, in the Bobcats' 69-61 win against the Colonials, Johnson went off for 38 points, hitting 12-of-21 from the floor, including 7-of-13 from three-point range.

Sunday, Johnson had 13 points. He was five of 17 from the field, including two of seven from deep.

"We limited their best players,'' Toole said.

Freshman guard Anthony Myers also had a hand - or two - in that defensive effort.

"He was great defensively in the second half,'' Toole said. "I think he was a little nervous in the first half, but he was terrific in the second half.''

Myers also led the Colonials with six rebounds.

But for all those team-wide contributions, in the end it came down to Jones with the ball several feet to the left of the top of the circle. He dribbled right and kept dribbling right and then drove along the lane.

"The play was to get me open, a simple ball screen,'' Jones said. "They weren't really doing too well on ball screens. Before the play, all I could think about was last year. I hit almost the same type of shot in the same position. I saw an open lane, and I just floated it up. I was taking that shot no matter what.''

"You could see it was high enough,'' Wallace said. "I said, 'That's good.'''

"Once I floated it, I saw that I put enough on it and it was going in,'' Jones said.

Quinnipiac still had a chance, although it had to go the length of the court.

James Johnson took the inbounds pass and quickly started up the right side of court. He almost lost the ball at one point.

"I thought about trying to steal it,'' Wallace said, "but I didn't want something crazy to happen, like a foul.''

Johnson retained possession and dribbled across the time line. However, he slipped just as he pulled up to shoot, and his off-balance three-point attempt had no chance of going in.

"You knew he wasn't going to get a good look,'' Wallace said. "There was no way it was going in. I started screaming. I was so happy.''

By that time, the crowd of 2,961 at the TD Bank Sports Center had grown largely quiet. Before that, though?

"It was louder than last year,'' Wallace said, referring to the crowd at Quinnipiac for the NEC championship game. "It was so loud. We couldn't hear. The floor was vibrating.''

"It was an incredible college basketball game,'' Toole said, referring to the atmosphere, the 12 ties and the 22 lead-changes. "The emotion and heart in that game … I was glad to be part of it.''

Rutty was impressed with the Colonials' grit.

"They showed that they have that toughness,'' he said. "We have a packed arena, and they still come up here and get the win. There's no way to beat around the bush. There's nothing more to say. It hurts.''
"I thought my guys played hard and wanted it badly,'' Moore said. "But we weren't good enough. Sometimes playing hard, being emotional and wanting it bad (aren't enough). We didn't play well enough. We didn't play tough enough. The team that made the tough plays mentally and physically down the stretch won.''

NEXT UP: Long Island, which has won 12 straight games, fell behind Central Connecticut State, 15-4, in the first 7:18. However, a bit over a minute later, CCSU's Ken Horton, the NEC Player of the Year, went to the bench with his second personal foul and stayed on the bench the rest of the half.

Long Island capitalized on Horton's absence and built a 32-28 halftime lead.

But the top-seeded Blackbirds could not put the game away in the second half, even though they had a 59-51 lead with 3:49 remaining.

Blue Devil junior Robby Ptacek, who made three late three-pointers to rally his team, got CCSU within a point at 66-65 with 20.6 seconds left. But after LIU freshman Jason Brickman made two free throws, Ptacek missed a three-point attempt from the right of the circle. Long Island rebounded, clinching the win.

"It wasn't a great look,'' Ptacek told the New Britain Herald, "but I'd hit three in a row before that, so I was feeling pretty good and thought anything I threw up was going in.''

Brickman had a season-high 16 points off the bench for Long Island.

"He's a freshman, but he played like a fifth-year senior,'' LIU coach Jim Ferry said. "The reason we won was Jason Brickman.''

TOURNEY TIDBITS: This will be RMU's third consecutive NEC championship game. Long Island last played for the NEC title in 1998 … LIU's 12-game winning streak is its longest since a 14-gamer in 1997-98. . .Rutty had 10 rebounds Sunday, raising his career total to an NEC-record 1,025. CCSU's Ron Robinson (2000-04) had held the career mark of 1,022 … Robert Morris has won seven consecutive games that have been decided by five points or less … Including NEC Tournament games, the Colonials over the past four seasons are 67-15 against NEC opposition … Wallace's recruiting class, of which he's the only remaining member, has 91 victories - the most in RMU history. The record had been 90, set by last season's seniors. Dallas Green, Mezie Nwigwe and Jimmy Langhurst were the four-year members of that recruiting class.