Meyer On Morris: A Home History Lesson

By: By Paul Meyer

Men's Basketball | 12/2/2014 6:10:00 AM

Moon Township, Pa. – Here's something for Robert Morris fans to ponder as they prepare to watch the Colonials play Youngstown State tonight at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

Should the Colonials fall behind the Penguins by double digits at some point, never fear. Well, worry a little bit, of course, but remember this …

In RMU coach Andrew Toole's four-plus seasons, the Colonials have rallied from a double-digit deficit to win 16 times. Robert Morris did it most recently a couple weeks ago at Bradley. The Colonials trailed, 27-12, in the first half but came back to win, 68-61.

That was nothing, though, compared to what Robert Morris did almost exactly six years ago this evening. On Nov. 25, 2008, the Colonials constructed the greatest comeback in their 38-year Division I history with Toole on the bench.

Toole, then an RMU assistant under Mike Rice, helped orchestrate a comeback from a 23-point chasm that gave the Colonials a 74-72 victory.

Why would we bring up that game now? Well, it just happened to be against this evening's opponent, Youngstown State.

Robert Morris trailed, 57-34, with just under 16 minutes left. However, Jimmy Langhurst scored 13 points that fueled a 17-2 run by the Colonials that made the score 59-51 with 11 and-a-half minutes remaining. Bateko Francisco eventually won the game by rebounding Jeremy Chappell's shot and hitting a jumper with 2.7 seconds left.

"Incredible,'' Francisco told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette moments afterward.

"Unbelievable,'' Colonial guard Gary Wallace said.

Said Rice: "Lucky.''

Whatever, the win certainly changed the direction of the Colonials' season.

"One of the things I remember most, and obviously I remember Bateko's shot that finally gave us the lead, but one of the things I really remember about that game is what we gained from it,'' Toole said the other day. "It was one of those games where we had had a tough stretch and we were trying to find our way. All of a sudden guys really stepped up, started to play hard and play together, make plays and believe and fly around. It really gave us a lot of momentum moving forward because we were able to come back in unusual fashion pull out a win. It really allowed everybody to understand that we could become a good team and how we needed to play and perform moving forward. And we did.''

That RMU team, which began the season 1-3, finished with an overall record of 24-11. The Colonials went 15-3 in the Northeast Conference regular season and won the NEC Tournament championship with that memorable, last-second 48-46 win over Mount St. Mary's in the Sewall Center. Robert Morris ended that season with a 77-62 loss to Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.

That comeback win six years ago seemed so inexplicable back then.

Not to Wallace, though.

"You take it possession by possession,'' he said. "You get one stop and one bucket. OK. Now you get another stop and another bucket.''

And then another. And another. And so on.

"If you always talk about trying to do the right thing on the next possession, eventually you can kind of get the ball rolling in the right direction for yourself and for your team,'' Toole said of making comebacks. "We're fortunate to have some guys who have good makeup character-wise who are going to keep fighting. If you keep fighting, eventually you have the opportunity to break through or start to see some success and go from there.''

Tuesday's game is an opportunity for these Colonials to come back from a 2-4 November, which included only one home game, and forge a successful December.

They play four of their six December games in the Sewall Center. How good is that?

"I'll let you know in January,'' Toole said. "It's nice to have the opportunity to play at home. It's nice to not have to travel, which is unusual for us. I hope it's something we can rally around and capitalize on. It's a luxury that a lot of other teams that I've been a part of here have not had. Hopefully we prepare ourselves the right way and play accordingly.''

Youngstown State, which was 15-17 last season, was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team Horizon League this season. The Penguins had a 4-4 November. Their three-game winning streak ended last Saturday when they lost at Illinois State, 85-73, in overtime.

Sophomore point guard Marcus Keene leads YSU with a scoring average of 18 points per game. Keene, from San Antonio, Texas, in the past three games averaged 26 points per game and was 15-of-26 from three-point range.

"He's been playing terrific,'' Toole said. "He showed flashes in games last year of becoming this. Kendrick Perry, who was their starting point guard last year, really hurt us up there.''

In YSU's 84-76 win against the Colonials last season, Perry scored 27 points and had eight assists.

"Keene has kind of assumed that role for them,'' Toole said. "He's making shots at a high rate and getting into the lane. He's also defending while creating for others. So far, he's been playing absolutely terrific.''

It would seem a natural that the sometimes-interrupted series between Robert Morris and Youngstown State would become an annual staple.

"It's a game that either of us can win in any given year,'' Toole said. "It's a game that from the travel perspective is easy, and from a basketball perspective I think there are a lot of similarities in terms of opponent. We don't have a whole lot of teams that are within an hour and a half or so of us, and they're one of them. It's a productive series for both teams.''

The Colonials enter this game hoping to improve their team shooting. Perhaps playing at home will help a team that has shot 40 percent from the field just twice in its six games. Robert Morris shot 40.9 percent in its win at Bradley and a season-best 42.9 percent in its win against Louisiana-Monroe in Chattanooga last Thursday.

Last season, the Colonials shot 43.8 percent from the field, including an NEC-best 38.5 percent from international waters.

This season, those marks are 33.7 percent and 31.9 percent.

Why the dropoff?

"Couple reasons why,'' Toole said. "One, our shot selection hasn't been great. Two, our ball movement hasn't been great. We've settled for almost-good shots. It's something we've talked about. In our two wins, our opponent at times allowed us to get into some offense and allowed us to find some good shots. In some of our other games we haven't been tough enough to fight through and find the shot that we need.

"We have some guys who can shoot. We have some guys who can score from certain areas of the floor. As coaches, we probably have to do a better job of getting them in those spots, but at the same time guys on the floor have to recognize what's a good shot and continue to work to find those good shots.''

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