Robert Morris won their 6th NEC Championship
title (Photo: NEC) |
|
|
| Robert Morris University 2008-09 |
|
|
With the clock winding down, Robert Morris rushed to take a potential
game-winning shot. Top scorer
Jeremy
Chappell (6'3''-G-87) got the ball, only to have it knocked out of his hands
and directly to teammate
Dallas Green (6'8''-F-88).
Coach
Mike Rice 's only thought: Oh, no, not him.
Oh, yes.
Green picked up the loose ball and made a hurried shot with 2.5 seconds
remaining for his only basket of the game, and regular-season champion Robert
Morris shook off its tournament jinx against Mount St. Mary's for a 48-46
victory Wednesday night in the Northeast Conference championship game.
Chappell scored 15 points as Robert Morris (24-10), rallying from five points
down in the second half to beat the 2008 champion Mountaineers (19-13) for the
third time this season, withstood a ragged performance on its home court to
reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.
'He probably was the fifth guy on the floor I would have picked [to take the
shot],' Rice said. 'His nickname is the screen machine, for all the screens he
sets. We ran the play I wanted, but they knocked it away and Dallas went and got
it.'
Chappell then batted the ball loose on the Mountaineers' inbounds play, and
moments later a school-record crowd of 3,227 swarmed the court to celebrate the
kind of scene that makes March special. A team that wouldn't be a factor in a
much-bigger conference becomes one of the big boys, if only for one night.
Losing was tough enough for the Mountaineers after they couldn't hold the lead,
but losing the way they did made it worse.
'It hurts more because I'd rather see a guy who make shots his whole career [win
the game],'
Jeremy Goode (5'9''-G-87) said. 'It was his first basket and he makes a shot
like that -- it hurts worse.'
Green, a 6-foot-8 junior from Indianapolis, averages 6.9 points but had made
only a single free throw in the title game before making the decisive 8-footer
close to the baseline.
Afterward, he said, smiling 'I'm from Indiana, so I've got that touch.'
'Part of March is making shots, and it was the first shot he [Green] made the
whole game,' the Mountaineers'
Kelly
Beidler (6'5''-F-88) said. 'Unfortunately, it was at the end of the game.'
Each of the previous two seasons, the Colonials swept the regular season series
from Mount St. Mary's, only to lose to the Mountaineers at home in the
tournament.
'Our No. 1 weakness coming into this year was mental toughness,' Rice said.
'Things wouldn't go our way and we'd start arguing with the referees or each
other, and they don't like being critiqued by me. But we were rock-solid dudes
in that huddle tonight -- bricklaying dudes, maybe, but rock-solid dudes.'
Robert Morris shot 34 percent (18-of-53).
Chappell, the MVP of the Northeast regular season and tournament, hit a
3-pointer to put the Colonials ahead 46-44 with 1:42 remaining, but
Shawn
Atupem (6'7''-F-89) made two free throws with 1:17 remaining to tie it.
Beidler scored 12 and Atupem had 11 for Mount St. Mary's, which missed 11 of 12
3-point attempts while being denied its second successive trip to the NCAA
tournament.
Mount St. Mary's went on a 7-0 run to take a 40-35 lead on Markus Mitchell's
basket with 6:56 remaining. The Mountaineers also had a chance to expand on a
five-point lead at 42-37, but
Jean
Cajou (6'3''-G-88) took a pair of long 3-pointers on successive possessions
instead of trying to work the clock for better shots.
Both teams obviously had the we're-on-TV jitters in the first half, when the
Colonials missed 17 of their first 23 shots and Chappell, averaging 22 points in
the tournament, didn't score until making two free throws with 3:17.
However, Mount St. Mary's -- which shot 39.1 percent overall (18-of-46) --
couldn't take advantage, managing only a 19-all halftime tie.
Robert Morris, 5-0 in conference championship games played on its home court,
didn't take its first lead until
Jimmy
Langhurst (5'11''-G-88) converted two free throws resulting from a technical
foul with 55.6 seconds remaining, making it 19-17.
The Mountaineers came out of a timeout only to call another one as soon as
taking the ball out, after realizing they had six players on the court,
resulting in an automatic technical.
That extra player might help the Northeast next week.
No Northeast team has won anything in the NCAAs other than a play-in game or a
game held to determine the last-seeded team in a region, and the conference
hasn't had a team seeded higher than 13th since there were only 12 teams in a
region.
Last year, Mount St. Mary's beat Coppin State 69-60 in the play-in game, then
lost to North Carolina 113-74.
Courtesy of NEC
Tournament Final: Robert Morris - Mount St. Mary's 48-46
Tournament Semifinals:
Robert Morris - Quinnipiac 75-48
Mount St. Mary's - Sacred Heart 68-63
NEC All-Tournament MVP:
Jeremy
Chappell of Robert Morris
| All-NEC 1st Team 2008-09 |
Chappell |
|
Goode |
|
Henley |
|
Rutty |
|
Wisseh |
|
|
All-NEC 1st Team
Jeremy
Chappell of Robert Morris
Jeremy Goode of Mount St. Mary's
Joey
Henley (6'5''-F) of Sacred Heart
Justin Rutty (6'7''-F) of Quinnipiac
Jaytornah Wisseh (6'1''-G-88) of Long Island
All-NEC 2nd Team
Sean
Baptiste (6'3''-G-88) of FDU
Ricky
Cadell (6'2''-G) of St. Francis (NY)
James
Feldeine (6'4''-G-88) of Quinnipiac
Ken
Horton (6'6''-F) of CCSU
Rob
Robinson (6'8''-F-87) of Robert Morris
NEC All-Rookie Team
Julian Boyd (6'6''-F-90) of Long Island
Will
Campbell (5'10''-G) of Monmouth
James
Johnson (6'0''-G) of Quinnipiac
Stefan Perunicic (6'6''-G/F) of St. Francis (NY)
Travis Taylor (6'8''-F-90) of Monmouth
NEC Player of the Year:
Jeremy
Chappell of Robert Morris
NEC Defensive Player of the Year:
Francisco Bateko (6'1''-G-84, college:
Fort Scott
CC) of Robert Morris
NEC Rookie of the Year:
Julian Boyd of Long Island
NEC Most Improved Player of the Year:
James
Feldeine of Quinnipiac
NEC Coach of the Year:
Mike
Rice of Robert Morris
Rice
