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Depth Charge: Robert Morris Needs Bench for Successful Season 

By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
November 22, 2010 

Meyer on Morris Link

Moon Township, Pa. - Senior guard Gary Wallace had quite the wishlist for his extended 22nd birthday celebration that began last Friday.

First, a win for Robert Morris University against Duquesne.

Wish granted.

The Colonials, helped by Wallace's six points and six rebounds, beat the Dukes, 69-63, at the Charles L. Sewall Center, their first win against Duquesne during Wallace's tenure at RMU.

"I think this is one of the greatest gifts for our program,'' Wallace said, obviously willing to share his birthday largesse. "This would be a perfect birthday present if I didn't have anything else.''

There could be more?

"To get a win at Pitt,'' Wallace said. "That would be just a dream come true.''

To date, Robert Morris getting a win at Pitt has been simply a pipe dream. The Colonials are 0-28 against the Panthers, who seem a particularly formidable foe this season.

Still, Wallace, who turns 22 today, can dream and relish the attempt.

"It's always fun,'' he said of playing Pitt. "Especially because you come to Robert Morris to play teams like Pitt. And later on in the season you have West Virginia and Arizona.''

OK, so the players look forward to playing Pitt.

How about the head coach?

"I look forward to every game as a coach,'' first-year RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "Do I look forward to (playing Pitt) more? No. We have to prepare for it just like it's any other game. Is it nice to play Pitt and compete against the best? Yes, it always is. But it's not any more important than Cleveland State, who we have after (Pitt). Or Duquesne, who we had (last Friday).''

By rallying to beat Duquesne, the Colonials (2-1) put themselves in a much better frame of mind for the Pitt game.

"Each game is an entity to itself,'' Toole said. "Obviously there's some carryover (from beating Duquesne). We're going to be able to kind of lean back and rely on some of our experiences already this season and say, 'All right. We've played against some bigger teams. We've outhustled some people already."

"You know that's not going to be good enough to carry us to a victory at Pitt, but it's a good starting point. I think if you're going into that game 0-3 and (then get) your head beat in and you're not really sure what's going on, (Pitt's) probably not your best opponent to have coming up next.''

This is only the fourth time in RMU basketball history - the Colonials began playing in Division I in 1976 - that Robert Morris is playing Duquesne and Pitt in back-to-back games. And it's the first time the Colonials will play Pitt having beaten Duquesne in the game before.

"Just such a big win,'' said Wallace, the only senior on a Colonial roster dominated by sophomores and freshmen. "I'm so proud of the guys, and the guys who came off the bench. They stepped up big.''

The RMU bench outscored Duquesne, 22-8, and received significant, probably game-changing, contributions from redshirt freshman Coron Williams and true freshman Anthony Myers.

Williams scored all of his eight points in the second half, while Myers, the cousin of former RMU standout Derek Coleman, scored seven points and added six rebounds.

"That's what we've been waiting for, Coron and Anthony to come in and give us something,'' Wallace said. "They came in and stepped up and played big. They came in and gave us a spark. They gave us a lift. They gave us all they had. I couldn't be more proud of them. If we can get that on a consistent basis, we'll be a dangerous team.''

Williams, known as a fine outside shooter ever since he was recruited, finally lived up to his reputation. He made two jump shots within 30 seconds in the latter part of the second half to keep the Colonials even with Duquesne, then drained a three with 3:55 left that put RMU up 61-58, a lead they didn't lose.

"Those two pull-up jumpers and that three-pointer were three of the biggest shots of our season,'' Toole said. "Duquesne was doing a great job of shading Karon Abraham and not allowing him to get good looks, and we needed somebody else to complement him on the other wing who was going to be able to come in and make some shots.''

It should be noted that freshman guard Elton Roy played a role in that. He made a three with 11:20 left that gave the Colonials their first lead at 47-46.

"And then I put (Williams) in the game and I said, 'C, you can shoot it. That's what you do,''' Toole said. "That's his best skill. His ability to shoot.''

"I told C-Ron before the game, 'Look, you're going to have to make shots tonight,''' Abraham said. "I told him that. And he did. He did what he's supposed to do. He's a shooter. He's probably a better shooter than me. I'm not sure, but he can knock shots down just as well as I can.''

Williams was visibly pleased that he contributed to this win.

"It builds my confidence,'' he said. "I'm just happy my teammates continue to trust me and continue to look for me. I'm in a little shooting slump, but once I hit that first pull-up my confidence went sky high. I'm hoping I can continue with this success each and every game.''

Myers has seemed to grow more confident in each game in the early going. With starting point guard Velton Jones in foul trouble against Duquesne, Myers assumed the point guard role and deftly guided the Colonials for significant time in the second half.

"Anthony came up huge,'' Jones said. "He came up huge. Making big shots. Making plays. Getting rebounds. His energy. Everything.''

"Unbelievable job as a freshman,'' Abraham said. "Unbelievable to come in and take over because Velton had four fouls. What he did shows heart and toughness.''
Toole also was especially pleased that the Colonials outrebounded Duquesne, 48-34, including 18-10 on the offensive glass.

"We do our best every single day to explain to our team that if we don't rebound we don't have a chance to win,'' Toole said. "And we go over and over that if you look at the history of basketball the biggest guys aren't always the best rebounders. Our guys completely understand that, and they're buying in to the fact that if there aren't three or four of them competing against our opponents' two or three guys we're not going to be able to be successful.

"They're putting in second and third efforts to get us extra shots, and I think you saw there were times when there were two or three Duquesne players to our four or five Robert Morris players (going for rebounds). And that's the only way we're going to be able to be successful on the glass.''

"Robert Morris was flat-out hungrier (than Duquesne),'' Dukes coach Ron Everhart said. "They played harder and with passion and beat us on the glass. That's not a skill stat. That's a heart and effort stat.''

The Colonials outscored Duquesne, 22-19, in the paint, with many of those coming on second-chance points.

Then there was Abraham's basket that he made on the paint.

This was with seven minutes left in the first half and Robert Morris trailing, 24-14. Somehow during a loose-ball scramble, Abraham, lying flat on his back near the basket, flipped the ball up and into the basket from about 10 feet away.

"Just a freak play,'' Toole said. "Have you ever seen it before? I've never seen someone shoot it off the ground. When he shot it, I really didn't know what he was thinking. It was one of those, 'What are you doing? Yes, great shot.' At that time, we were just struggling for anything to go in the basket. I think it kind of deflated Duquesne a little bit because they had defended so well and they get the ball down on the ground and we still score.''

Abraham's take?

"It doesn't matter if you're sitting down or not,'' he said. "It's all in the wrist.''

NEC NUGGETS: Last season, Northeast Conference teams were 38-104 (26.8 percent) against non-conference teams. This season, through Sunday, NEC teams are 18-19 (48.6 percent) against non-conference opposition. Long Island (3-0), which entertains Robert Morris in an NEC opener Dec. 2, and Central Connecticut State (3-0) top the nonconference standings … CCSU has scored 80-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Blue Devils have won 23 consecutive games when scoring 80-plus points … The average margin of victory for Pitt against RMU is 21.3 points per game.