RMU aims for No. 7 seed as NEC tournament nears
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Though the road to get there might have been a little bumpy, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team managed to accomplish one of its most immediate goals.
With a 74-64 road win Saturday against Central Connecticut, the Colonials (11-18, 7-9) clinched a berth in the Northeast Conference tournament. It is their 14th berth in a row and they currently are the No. 8 seed but can rise to No. 7 this weekend with two home wins.
“Obviously, our expectation is to be in the conference tournament,” coach Andy Toole said Tuesday. “We’ve done it the last 14 years in a row, and our team is one where we have high expectation for the program. This is the next step on our path. Obviously, we haven’t lived up to the expectations that we’ve wanted to during the entire course of the year but getting into the tournament is something that we expect to do.”
By claiming a No. 7 seed, Robert Morris potentially could avoid a quarterfinal against No. 1 Mount St. Mary’s, which is 2-0 against the Colonials this season. The Colonials might have more success against No. 2 LIU Brooklyn or No. 3 Wagner, which are jostling for the second seed. Robert Morris is 1-1 against both.
The Colonials could have clinched a berth Thursday, but they lost at Bryant, 81-73. With Central Connecticut one spot below them in the standings, the Colonials’ win Saturday sealed the tournament berth.
After allowing Bryant to shoot 51 percent from the floor, Robert Morris held Central Connecticut to 37 percent.
“We had more detail, we had some more emphasis on making sure we were getting stops,” Toole said. “We only had one little lull in the game a few minutes into the second half where they went on a run. But we were able to right the ship, which I was glad to see. We were able to refocus and understand that what we needed to do was get back to defending, back to getting stops at the end of the game. I thought we put a good streak of stops together.”
Robert Morris is 4-2 in February after going 2-6 in January. Toole credits his team’s turnaround to increased attention to detail.
“We constantly talk to them about as long as there’s an opportunity for us to go to the gym, there’s still an opportunity for us to get better,” Toole said.
“That’s the way we’ve looked at the last couple weeks, and I think that’s helped our play improve. Obviously, we’ll continue to do that this week.”