Robert Morris men stomp Long Island, reach NEC championship game
Anyone willing to come along for the ride will be welcomed by Robert Morris men’s basketball coach Andy Toole.
With their 86-66 Northeast Conference Tournament semifinal win over Long Island University on Saturday, the top-seeded Colonials earned an opportunity to close their first season at UPMC Events Center by winning their first NEC title since the 2014-15 season.
But Toole desires a more forceful turnout when the Colonials play St. Francis (Pa.) on Tuesday night at home than they had Saturday.
RMU announced a crowd of 1,342 people, which is significantly less than the Colonials’ new 4,000-seat arena will hold.
“We have a lot of room on the bandwagon. We’d love for people to come and join,” Toole said.
Dante Treacy, who scored 12 points, is eager to start promoting the game. The sophomore guard said he planned to spread the word.
“I definitely will be,” Treacy said. “(On) social media.”
After sweating out a one-point win in the quarterfinals, RMU didn’t leave much drama against the fourth-seeded Sharks (15-18).
The Colonials blitzed LIU in the first 73 seconds, scoring the game’s first eight points, capped by a Treacy 3-pointer. Treacy also recorded a steal six seconds into the game before setting up AJ Bramah for the game’s first points.
“Obviously, we want to get off to a good start,” Treacy said. “I try to bring energy for guys and get guys going. Talk to people, and I feel like that steal helped out.”
RMU made 8 of its first 10 shots en route to a 16-2 lead by the four-minute mark.
The Colonials offense didn’t hit many cold spots. RMU shot 55.3% (26 of 47) from the field and 47.4% (9 of 19) from beyond the arc.
Five Colonials — Bramah (18 points), Josh Williams (15), Jalen Hawkins (13), Treacy and Jon Williams (11) — finished in double figures scoring.
The Sharks (15-18) showed some fight after the slow start.
Jermaine Jackson Jr. cut the lead to 19-9 with 12:52 left in the first half by closing a 7-2 run with a twisting layup that ended up as a three-point play.
LIU, which trailed 43-28 at halftime, wouldn’t get the lead back down to single digits until the second half. The Sharks opened the half with a 7-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Jeannette graduate Julian Batts.
The trey from Batts, who finished with a game-high 21 points, cut the Sharks’ deficit to 43-35.
But RMU never let LIU get any closer. The Sharks shot 35.8% (19 of 53) from the field and turned the ball over 15 times.
“I thought we were stagnant, especially in the first half,” LIU coach Derek Kellogg said. “I thought we didn’t move the ball and get it side-to-side as much as I would have liked. When you miss three or four layups, they start pressing some and they think they need to go one-on-one and make plays themselves instead of relying on their teammates.”
The Colonials stopped the run on a 3-pointer from Josh Williams. RMU then went on an 8-2 run of its own.
Toole hopes to see a packed gym in a few days. Anyone going is encouraged to bring a friend, or if they are lucky enough to have them, several buddies.
“We want to be in the championship game as many years as we can be,” Toole said. “Hopefully, we can have a better crowd than we had today for the championship game. These guys are working awfully hard and deserve more support than they got this afternoon. Hopefully, we can get the word out. Everyone can get information instantaneously, so we should start getting the word out that there is a game here at 7 p.m. Tuesday night for a lot.”
Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.
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