Game Notes (PDF)
GAME #30
Robert Morris (18-11, 13-1 NEC) @ Fairleigh Dickinson (10-18, 6-8 NEC)
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 • 7:00 p.m.
Stratis Arena (5,000) • Hackensack, N.J.
Radio: 970 ESPN AM
Radio Talent: Chris Shovlin (play-by-play) & Jim Duzyk (color)
Follow RMU Men's Basketball on Twitter and Instagram: RMUMBasketball
Top Story - The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team concludes its 2013-14 regular season with a pair of road games, beginning Thursday with a 7:00 p.m. tilt against Fairleigh Dickinson in Hackensack, N.J., at Stratis Arena. The Colonials stretched their winning streak to six and in the process clinched their second straight Northeast Conference regular-season championship and fifth in the last seven years with a 71-70 overtime victory over St. Francis Brooklyn (2/22/14) at the Charles L. Sewall Center. In that victory, junior forward
Lucky Jones scored on a putback with 3.1 seconds to play in OT to help lift RMU to the win. Jones finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in the victory, while Robert Morris was led by senior guard
Karvel Anderson, who eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the third time on the 2013-14 campaign with a game-high 31 points. Also reaching double figures for the Colonials against the Terriers were senior guard
Anthony Myers-Pate with 12 points and junior guard
David Appolon with 10 points. RMU closes out the regular season after taking on the Knights Thursday with a 6:00 p.m. tip against Wagner on Staten Island, N.Y., at the Spiro Sports Center in a game that will be televised live on Root Sports.
Quick Stat of the Night - Robert Morris will look to match its longest winning streak of the season Thursday when it takes on Fairleigh Dickinson and will probably rely on its hottest player in senior guard
Karvel Anderson. During a six-game winning streak that has allowed RMU to claim its second straight Northeast Conference regular-season title, Anderson has averaged 20.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 51.7 percent (45-for-87) from the field, including 44.7 percent (17-for-38) from beyond the arc. As a team, Robert Morris has played solid defense during its six-game surge, allowing opponents an average of just 60.2 points per game while holding ooponents to a shooting percentage of 41.9 percent (137-for-327) from the field, including 29.8 percent (39-for-131) from beyond the arc.
Thursday's Opponent and The All-Time Series - Robert Morris and Fairleigh Dickinson will tip for the 68th time Saturday, with the Colonials holding a 37-30 (.552) edge in the all-time series. RMU enters Thursday's game having won 11 straight against the Knights, including a sweep of the 2012-13 season series. Robert Morris earned an 88-54 win over Fairleigh Dickinson at Stratis Arena (1/10/13) to open the season series, followed by an 89-46 win over the Knights at the Charles L. Sewall Center (2/23/13). In last year's win in Hackensack, N.J., former guard
Coron Williams (2009-13) led RMU with 27 points on the strength of an 8-for-10 performance from beyond the arc. He was one of five players to reach double figures in scoring against the Knights, as forward Stephan Hawkins added 12 points and five rebounds off the bench in the win.
Mission Accomplished - Many have tried over the years, and many have failed. Yet senior guard
Karvel Anderson was the one that came through and established a new RMU single-season school record that had stood for almost a quarter of a century. Thanks to a trio of three-pointers in a 71-70 overtime victory over St. Francis Brooklyn (2/22/14), Anderson pushed his season total in three-pointers to 95. That total surpassed the old single-season school record of 93 that was established by former guard Scott Shepherd (1988-91) during the 1988-89 campaign. In 62 career contests, Anderson has drilled 177 three-pointers, an average of 2.85 per game that would also establish a new career record. He enters Thursday's game ranked fourth in NCAA Division I in three-point field goal percentage (46.8%) and 13th in the three-point field goals made per game (3.28).
Comeback Kids - Robert Morris closed out a three-game homestand and clinched its second straight Northeast Conference regular-season championship in thrilling fashion, producing a pair of come-from-behind victories. The Colonials posted a 73-64 victory over LIU Brooklyn (2/20/14) by climbing out of a 16-point deficit in the second half and followed by earning a 71-70 overtime win over St. Francis Brooklyn (2/22/14) by erasing a 12-point deficit in the second half. The two victories mark the 12th and 13th times RMU has climbed out of a double-digit deficit to earn a victory in four seasons under head coach
Andrew Toole, including the third and fourth occasions in 2013-14. In addition, the come-from-behind win over the Blackbirds marks the largest deficit RMU has erased in a Northeast Conference game since Jan. 10, 2000, when the Colonials came back from 19 down, 53-34, with 14:55 to play to earn a 73-63 win over St. Francis Brooklyn at the Charles L. Sewall Center. In that game RMU outscored the Terriers, 39-10, to post the win.
There's An App For That - David Appolon is coming off a three-game homestand in which he's playing arguably his best basketball in a Robert Morris uniform. Over the last three games, Appolon has averaged 10.0 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 65 percent (13-for-20) from the field. Included in that stretch, the junior guard established career highs in both points (13) and rebounds (9) in a 73-64 win over LIU Brooklyn (2/20/14). Since earning a spot in the starting lineup in a 91-65 win over Sacred Heart (1/23/14), Appolon has averaged 6.5 points and 5.7 rebounds over his last 10 games while shooting 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the field, a stretch in which Robert Morris owns a record of 9-1 (.900).
Wouldn't It Be Grand - Senior guard
Karvel Anderson is scoring at a pace not seen at Robert Morris in a long time, and the transfer from Glen Oaks Community College has a shot of joining the RMU 1,000-point club this season. In 62 career games with the Colonials, Anderson has scored 977 points, an average of 15.8 points per contest. At his current scoring average (19.4 ppg), Anderson is on pace to conclude the 2013-14 regular season with 1,016 career points. Anderson could be just the third player in school history to eclipse 1,000 points while playing just two seasons at Robert Morris. The only other Division I player to turn the trick at RMU was former guard Gene Nabors (1995-2000), who scored 1,029 points with the Colonials from 1998 to 2000 after transferring from Louisiana State University (LSU). The first player to accomplish the feat was junior college guard Don Mackey, who scored 1,034 points from 1963 to 1965.
Rise Up - Senior guard
Karvel Anderson continues to the move up the rankings in a number of different top 10 lists in single-season history at Robert Morris this year, and he has a shot of challenging the program's single-season mark for points scored. One of just eight players in school history to eclipse the 500-point plateau in a season, Anderson enters Thursday's game @ Fairleigh Dickinson with 564 points so far in 2013-14. Based on his current scoring average (19.4 ppg), Anderson is on pace the finish the regular season with 603 points, which would rank second in the RMU single-season record book. He would enter the 2014 NEC Tournament trailing only Myron Walker, who scored 614 points as a sophomore in 1991-92.
