Men's Basketball 1/22/2015 6:30:00 AM By Paul Meyer

Meyer On Morris: Consistently Speaking

Moon Township, Pa. – It's tempting to designate the next three days as a big weekend for the Robert Morris Colonials.

RMU plays two Northeast Conference games on the road, against Mount St. Mary's (4-2 in the league) Thursday night and Saint Francis Brooklyn (5-1 and tied for first place) Saturday.

At 4-2 themselves, the Colonials have an opportunity to lodge themselves firmly in the race for the NEC regular-season championship.

So, yes, it appears this is a big weekend.

Then again …

"I don't know if we can turn it into something more than it is,'' RMU coach Andrew Toole said. "I don't know how well we do when we do that.''

Case in point? Robert Morris last Friday night played Saint Francis Brooklyn in the Charles L. Sewall Center with a share of first place on the line. The game was televised nationally on ESPN. The Colonials drew a large crowd (2,349). They had a double-digit lead early in the second half.

Then … pfft. Saint Francis Brooklyn rallied and won, 68-63.

Thus, perhaps it's OK to turn down the hype meter on this weekend.

"I don't think we can make it a do-or-die situation or a giant weekend in our fourth NEC weekend, you know?'' Toole said. "I think we have to get (the players) to the proper level of preparation and respect for what we're going to face. I think we have to talk about us continuing to improve and making the right decisions and prepare for Thursday night and handle Thursday -- win or lose -- and then prepare for Saturday.''

Senior Lucky Jones prefers to take the one-game-at-a-time approach. He's focused only on Thursday night's game in Emmitsburg, Md.

"We have to worry about taking care of business in Maryland and understand that (Mount St. Mary's is) coming off four straight wins and they're starting to click as a team,'' Jones said. "We just have to go down there and worry about how we're going to take careof business and not worry about other things that are not relevant. We need to take care of business Thursday (before) worrying about Saturday.''

Something else to factor in here is the erratic nature the Colonials have displayed over the first 18 games of the season.

On Thursday night, will they be the team that convincingly beat Sacred Heart, 85-65, last Sunday or will they come out flat?

"It all depends on the day with the Colonials,'' Toole said. "It's really pretty much how we've been going, trying to look and see who's ready to go and who's engaged mentally. It's not like your physical gifts leave you. It's just how engaged you're going to be mentally to be able to perform at the level you need to perform. It would be nice if we could get some more consistency, as we've talked about previously, but we'll keep giving guys shots based on how they practice and how they prepare.''

The Colonials did a fine job bouncing back after their dispiriting loss to Saint Francis Brooklyn with their win against Sacred Heart.

They were impressive offensively, shooting 54.7 percent from the field, including 47.1 percent from beyond the arc. Four Colonials scored in double figures.

"I would say for a 40-minute stretch it was probably our best offensive performance of the year,'' Toole said. "Even Friday night in the first half we were 10-for-17 from the field, which is pretty good offense. We've shot a high field goal percentage number so far in conference play. It just has been a little bit erratic.''

As it was last Friday night. The Colonials shot 58.8 percent from the field in the first half, then just 30.6 percent in the second half.

Still, they lead the NEC in field goal percentage in league games at 48.9 percent, and their 39 percent accuracy from deep is tied for the NEC lead.

That 54.7 percent mark against Sacred Heart didn't hurt in that regard.

"We shot the ball at a pretty incredible rate,'' Toole said. "I think we took a tremendous amount of high-percentage shots. I thought we had good activity in terms of how we attacked the paint. Something we talked about was not settling for jump shots early in the shot clock. I think we did that on maybe every possession other than a couple. We did enough defensively to create some misses. I wouldn't say it was textbook (defense), but we somehow got them to miss enough shots and were able to win the game.''

Marcquise Reed led the Colonials with 24 points. Jones added 22. Rodney Pryor chipped in 15. And Aaron Tate scored 10 points.

Pretty good balance.

However …

"Those guys have to be accepting of the fact that maybe there are some nights where they don't get 14 or 16 or 11 shots,'' Toole said. It's like, 'OK, tonight I only got seven shots. All right, did we win or lose? That's most important. And the seven shots I got, were they good, quality shots that I had opportunities to knock down?' And then the next night might be your night. I think everyone has to be OK with that if we're going to be a successful team down the stretch.''

There's also this.

"It's always good to see shots fall down,'' Pryor said, "but we can't let that dictate how hard we play because I think what defines us is the defensive end. In our (game against Saint Francis Brooklyn), we didn't knuckle down and get stops. It's good to see shots go down, but we can't rely on shots falling. We have to rely on the defensive end.''

"We're still working on our defense to make sure we get sharper and won't have minor breakdowns,'' Jones said.

That sounds good to Toole.

"They obviously all have the capability to shoot and score at a high level,'' he said. "Hopefully it's something we can continue to rely on. But I think the biggest thing we need to consistently hang our hat on is how well we're going to defend. We can't be erratic in our urgency and effort on the defensive side of the floor, like we've been at times.''

The other aspect of RMU's season thus far is the team's toughness. Toole thought perhaps the fact his squad weathered a run by Sacred Heart in the second half was a sign the Colonials are building some mental toughness.

"We got to more loose balls,'' he said. "I still don't know if (the toughness) is at the level it needs to be. I still think we have too many balls that get taken out of our hands. I think there are still second-effort plays that we can make that we stop on. Obviously some of those transition buckets (by Sacred Heart) is nothing other than just effort. You know, getting back and setting your defense, especially after makes. Those are the toughness plays that you need to make consistently, and that's the biggest thing, being able to be tough consistently.''

The Colonials opened NEC play, Jan. 3, with a 70-45 win against Mount St. Mary's in the Sewall Center. But they would be well served to forget that outcome. The Mountaineers they meet Thursday night will be a different club than the one that took the floor three weeks ago.

Mountaineers Bryon Ashe and Chris Martin, a transfer from Marshall, didn't play in that game. In the five games since, Ashe has averaged 10.8 points per game, while Martin has contributed 10.2 points per game.

"They need to be the best version of themselves,'' Mountaineer coach Jamion Christian recently told the Carroll County Times. "When they do that it doesn't matter how many minutes they play because they are going to be super productive and we're going to find ways to allow them to help our team. They've been working very hard at that. We've been doing that as a family in our program, making sure we get these guys back on the same page."

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Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones: G/F; 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.

#24 Aaron Tate: F; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

#2 Marcquise Reed: G; 6' 3"; Freshman; Fr.

#11 Rodney Pryor: G; 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.

Players Mentioned

#22 Lucky Jones
: 6' 6"; Senior; Sr.
: G/F

#24 Aaron Tate
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: F

#2 Marcquise Reed
: 6' 3"; Freshman; Fr.
: G

#11 Rodney Pryor
: 6' 5"; Junior; Jr.
: G