#2 Robert Morris 66, #1 St. Francis Brooklyn 63
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NEW YORK (AP) - Three times in his previous four seasons coach Andy Toole took Robert Morris to the Northeastern Conference tournament finals, and three times the Colonials had to watch their opponents cut down the nets and celebrate an NCAA bid.
In front of a raucous crowd, packed tightly into the one of the smallest gyms in Division I, Toole and his team never wilted. No more waiting until next year for the Colonials.
Tournament MVP Rodney Pryor sparked a second-half surge and Robert Morris denied St. Francis, Brooklyn, its first NCAA Tournament bid, beating the Terriers 66-63 for Northeast Conference championship on Tuesday night.
''A lot of my friends have been calling me Marv Levy because we haven't won the big one,'' the 34-year-old Toole said, referring to the former Buffalo Bills' coach who lost four straight Super Bowls. ''It's nice that I can call them back and tell them we finally won one.''
The top-seeded Terriers (23-11) had a chance to tie with 2.4 seconds left when Tyreek Jewell, who scored 19 points and was their best player on this night, went to the line after being fouled shooting a desperation 3-pointer.
Jewell missed the first, back-ending the shot and then the second. He intentionally missed the last one, but Robert Morris got the ball back and was quickly fouled. Lucky Jones missed a free throw that would have sealed it and Lowell Ulmer's heave from beyond half-court hit the back of the rim, took a high bounce and then missed again.
It was Robert Morris and their fans celebrating as the SFC crowd lamented the Terriers' third NEC title game loss, but first since 2003. St. Francis is one of just five original Division I teams, dating back to 1948, that has never made the NCAA Tournament.
As NEC regular season champions the Terriers get an NIT bid, their first postseason appearance since they went to the NIT in 1963.
''They can look back at a regular-season title. A lot of personal accolades. And postseason in the NIT for the first time in 52 years,'' St. Francis coach Glenn Braica said. ''I think that's pretty good. I think a lot of guys in this country would like to have that.''
Second-seeded Robert Morris (19-15) is going back to the tournament for the first time since 2010.
''It breaks your heart sometimes as a coach that we've had teams that have been so close and not been able to get over the hump,'' Toole said. ''And that's why we push, and we push and we push, all the time. To be able to perform and play in this kind of atmosphere and this kind of stage.''
The Colonials and Terriers split two close games during the regular season, with each winning on the road.
''When we got the win in the regular season we knew that we can win coming into this building,'' Pryor, who capped a 16-3 second-half with a baseline jumper and a 3 to put Robert Morris up 57-47 with 6:53 left.
Pryor finished with 17 points and earned tournament MVP honors.
The Colonials, their enthusiastic fans and their band made themselves comfortable in the cramped quarters of Division I's fourth-smallest gym. The Pope PE Center, capacity is listed at 1,200 but who really knows, was crowded and loud. Robert Morris was unfazed.
Using a confounding zone, Robert Morris limited the touches for NEC Player of the Year Jalen Cannon and held him to 10 points. Point guard Brent Jones (seven points and four turnovers) also struggled before fouling out.
''I wasn't myself,'' Jones said. ''Just thinking about not turning the ball over.''
Glenn Sanabria of St. Francis made a long 3 from straight on with 16.2 seconds left to cut Robert Morris' lead to 64-63 and put the Pope Center on the brink of bursting with chants of'' S-F-C!!''
Jones went to the line and swished both free throws with 13.8 remaining to make it a three-point game for Robert Morris.
Yunus Hopkinson missed a corner 3 for St. Francis with time winding down, but Jewell tracked down the rebound and spun and fired from the wing. Elijah Minnie slammed into Jewell to put the junior at the line, but the 65-percent foul shooter couldn't make the shots.
Toole said he's not worried about seeding, but it's a good possibility the Colonials will end up in Daytona, Ohio, playing another potential 16 seed in the First Four. He's just looking forward to watching the selections on Sunday with his team.
''It's one of the best feelings in sports,'' Toole said. ''I'm glad they get to experience it."
NEC All-Tournament Team
Rodney Pryor (RMU) - MVP
Lucky Jones (RMU)
Jalen Cannon (SFBK)
Brent Jones (SFBK)
Earl Brown (SFU)
By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Sports Writer)
Post-game Quote Sheet
St. Francis Brooklyn head coach Glenn Braica
Opening Statement...
"Obviously it's very disappointing the result tonight. We're all down, we're all disappointed but I'm also real proud of my guys. We've had a great run. After going 0-5, they won 23 of 29 games and we got the first postseason bid in the school's history in 52 years. We'll be going to the NIT next week.
I'm really proud of them for that. Obviously we fell short of our ultimate goal, which is disappointing. But as I told these guys in the locker room, we give credit to Robert Morris. I thought they did a great game, they did a great job, and I'm happy for them.
It doesn't take away from what these guys did this year. These guys have fought and you saw even at the end, we were down 10 with two, three minutes to go and they just kept fighting and scratching, and we gave ourselves a chance to tie the game.
So that's what these guys are about. They're a great group. They're a really tough bunch of kids. Great character and I'm really proud of them.
Even with the disappointment of tonight. This atmosphere that we had tonight. No one thought that was possible at St. Francis College. And they created it.
It's really tough when you get so close and you don't get there, but it's really hard to do and I'm proud of these guys.
On the defense…
It's not a great matchup for us to be honest with you. They do a really go job in their zone. They've done a really job the last two games of adjusting and giving us trouble giving the ball inside to Jalen. The first game I thought we had a little better time doing it. They've done a great job of taking away our inside game. And that's our strength.
They keyed on Brent. I could see whenever Brent got the ball, they jumped to him and they did a good job on the ball screens that we run against the zone. I thought Glenn came in and gave us a lift offensively and I thought Tyreek had a good game offensively as well and it gave us a chance.
On the beginning of the second half
But they got separation. I thought a big part of the game was at the beginning of the second half. We had a six-point lead at halftime and [Rodney] Pryor came out and hit two threes, I think Lucky Jones hit one, and it just changed the momentum of the game. You know if we got a little more separation right there, it would've helped, cause we did have trouble scoring against the zone.
On the free throw shooting
We missed a bunch. I don't know what that's due to. We've done a good job lately in the other playoff games with that. And today we didn't hit them. If we hit them, we probably would've won that game. But that happens. It happens to every team in the country from time to time and tonight it was us unfortunately.
On the final shot…
Honestly, I thought it was going in. I figured after all these years it was going in. It was really on line, I had a great view and it really looked on line. I was hoping.
On the atmosphere…
It's awesome. We're real grateful to everybody. The school, the Brooklyn community, our friends and family. This became a hot ticket. People couldn't get tickets. I had guys texting me that they were trying to go to brokers and obviously the brokers didn't have them. Who would have ever thought you would have seen that on Remsen Street? I hope that didn't distract us with all the hoopla. And there's no excuses but it was a great environment. We're really happy.