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The Top-2 Seeds Move Onto the NEC Men's Basketball Championship Game

3/7/2015

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The top-2 seeds in the bracket posted double-digit victories on their home floors Saturday and advance to the 2015 NEC Men’s Basketball Championship Game as a result. #2 Robert Morris will visit #1 St. Francis Brooklyn with a bid to the Big Dance on the line Tuesday, 7:00 pm ET on ESPN2. Tied at 48-48, Robert Morris closed the game on an 18-5 run to defeat No. 3 Bryant.  Kavon Stewart led the way for RMU, registering 19 points and eight assists. Later on in the afternoon, St. Francis Brooklyn pulled away from No. 5 Saint Francis U late. NEC Player of the Year Jalen Cannon, the league leader in double-doubles, recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Terriers, who are returning to the tournament final for the first time more than a decade.



WEDNESDAY3.4.15QUARTERFINALSCAMPUS SITES@ HIGHER SEED
QF
#1 St. Francis Brooklyn 79
#8 LIU Brooklyn 70 FINAL Box Score | Recap | Highlights
SFBK Postgame Coach
SFBK Postgame Players
LIU Postgame
QF
#2 Robert Morris 91
#7 Wagner 68 FINAL Box Score | Recap | Highlights
QF
#3 Bryant 91
#6 Sacred Heart 85 FINAL (2OT) Box Score | Recap | Highlights
BRY Postgame
QF
#4 Mount St. Mary's 58
#5 Saint Francis U 73 FINAL Box Score | Recap | Highlights
SFU Postgame
MSM Postgame
SATURDAY  3.7.15  SEMIFINALS CAMPUS SITES@ HIGHER SEED
SF
#2 Robert Morris 66
#3 Bryant 53 FINAL Box Score | Recap |
RMU Coach Postgame
RMU Player Postgame
Bryant Coach Postgame
SF
#1 St. Francis Brooklyn 62
#5 Saint Francis U 48 FINAL Box Score | Recap | Highlights
SFBK Postgame
SFU Postgame
TUESDAY  3.10.15  CHAMPIONSHIP@ HIGHER SEED
CH
  #2 Robert Morris
#1 St. Francis Brooklyn 7:00 pm (ESPN2) Watch Live | Live Stats | Westwood One Radio |
         




#1 St. Francis Brooklyn 62, #5 Saint Francis U 48
Click Here For Boxscore

Brooklyn, NY - The top-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers advanced to the championship game of the 2015 Northeast Conference Championship after defeating the No. 5 Saint Francis Red Flash, 62-48, in front of a raucous crowd at the Pope Physical Education Center on Saturday afternoon. 

The Terriers will make their first appearance in the finals since 2003.

“I was very proud of our guys,” said St. Francis Brooklyn head coach Glenn Braica. “We’ve won two playoff games and we beat two very good teams for a third time this season and that’s very difficult to do. I’m proud of the way our guys responded. Our defense was probably as good as it has been all year. Saint Francis University is a very good offensive team. Our guys played really hard.”


St. Francis Brooklyn (23-10), who tied its program record for victories in a single-season, received a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds from senior power forward Jalen Cannon (Allentown, PA/William Allen).  Cannon, the 2015 NEC Player of the Year, shot 9-of-13 overall from the floor en route to his 20th double-double of the campaign.  Classmate Brent Jones (Brooklyn, NY) added 13 points and a game-high eight assists, and junior forward Chris Hooper (New York, NY) chipped in 11 points and seven boards.

Saint Francis U. (16-15) struggled from the field all afternoon as the hosts limited them to just a 30.4 percent clip (17-of-56) and a 13.3 percent mark (2-for-15) from behind the arc.

The Terriers led 10-6 at the 14:32 mark of the opening stanza after a jumper by Cannon, but the Flash went on a 7-2 mini spurt to grab a 13-12 edge after a layup by senior guard Dominique Major (Woodbridge, Va.) with 11:07 left.   It turned out to be their final lead of the game as the hosts went on a 15-5 run to surge ahead, 27-18, with 2:08 left before the break.  Cannon scored seven points during the stretch, including a trey and a dunk on back-to-back possessions. Jones capped the run with a conventional 3-point play.

The Red Flash managed to close within just three points at the break, 30-27, as sophomore guard Malik Harmon (Queens, NY) beat the horn with a trifecta.  The field goal completed a 9-3 burst for the Red Flash to close out the stanza.

St. Francis Brooklyn held a 37-33 edge with 14:24 remaining in the contest after junior forward Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio) swished a jumper but the hosts rattled off nine straight points to take their largest lead up to that point at 46-33 with 10:39 on the clock.  Jones opened the scoring with another 3-point play and Cannon reeled off three straight buckets to close out the key stretch of the game.

The Red Flash managed to close within single-figures at 46-37 after a layup by Harmon with 8:28 left but that was as close as they would get.  Jones answered with a trey and then scored again after Greg Brown (Odenton, MD) converted a layup.  A tip-in by freshman guard Glenn Sanabria (Staten Island, NY) extended the Terriers’ lead to 53-39 at the 5:33 mark and the hosts were never threatened again.

Harmon paced the Red Flash with 18 points, including 12 in the first half. Senior forward Earl Brown (Philadelphia, PA) recorded a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Terriers shot 42.1 percent overall (24-of-57) and out-boarded the Flash by a 43-34 margin.  St. Francis Brooklyn did not allow any fast-break points in the entire contest.

St. Francis Brooklyn Head Coach Glenn Braica
 
Opening Statement
"I was very proud of our guys.  We’ve won two playoff games and we beat two very good teams for a third time this season and that’s very difficult to do. I’m proud of the way our guys responded. Our defense was probably as good as it has been all year. St. Francis University is a very good offensive team. Our guys played really hard.
 
Throughout the course of the year, you get hit with so many scenarios.  You have to adapt to whatever comes your way.
 
After our game with Mount St. Mary’s we made a conscience effort to improve our ball screens. We got more aggressive with them. We have played much better defensively. The more aggressive we are, the more turnovers you can cause.  Guys just made plays today. As the game when on, everyone made plays; I thought we fed off our defensive as the game went on.
 
Hooper was terrific at the start of the game. They put Earl Brown on him. Brown can get anyone in foul trouble early. It is a tough matchup for Chris. They started Earl on Chris to keep him out of foul trouble. Chris is a good post-up player, got some good seals inside. He’s a good rebounder who was able to clean up on the glass today.
 
I was worried coming into this game about Brent and Jalen getting into foul trouble. They both got one early. They guarded without fouling until basically the end of the game. Brent got a few late."

SFBK PG Brent Jones

On teammate Chris Hopper performance...
"He helped us a lot offensively. He posts hard. Earl Brown is less aggressive on defense. I kept telling Chris to keeping posting up and the ball will always be in your hands coming from me. I gave him the ball and he was finishing plays for me."
 
SFBK's Jalen Cannon, the #NECMBB Player of the Year

On what he learned from earlier matchups with SFU
"Last time we played time I noticed they sink a lot in the paint.  I was being overly aggressive in the paint and I was getting charges called against me.  The coaches were telling me to post up and when the double comes I knew I had to make a move quickly.  I learned from that game."
 
On being one of the 5 schools not to make the tournament
"I don’t worry about it, it’s just another number.  You have to go out and play every day."

On Tuesday's Championship Game
I’m really excited. We beat them there and they got us here, it’s a rematch. It’s going to be a war. I can’t wait to play.

SFU head coach Rob Krimmel

Opening Statement
I first want to congratulate Glenn and his team on a great season so far. He does a great job with his guys. They were the better team today. He has done a great job with the program and we are fortunate to be in this position to play against these guys. We knew coming into it, it was going to be a dog fight and that we would have to compete in every possession.  We challenged our guys after the Mount Saint Mary’s game to play with great effort and I thought we did. Certainly we are a team that relies on the jump shot a little bit, and we didn’t have some shots fall for us. We missed a couple of shots close to the basket that opened up their lead. When they do that the game becomes a lot more difficult.  Malik hit a big shot at the end of the first half to give us some momentum going into the second half. We weren’t able to knock some looks down and that was a big part of them getting a lot of momentum. I’m proud of our guys. They have set the bar high for the program. Our seniors have meant a lot to the program as players and what they have meant to the university.  I can’t thank the seniors enough for their effort."

SFU's Malik Harmon

On the atmsophere and the game
"The atmosphere was great. It was a packed gym, this playoff atmosphere made a lot of people come out to watch this game. I think it gave them a huge advantage but overall it was the same game for us and we just wanted to play.  I noticed they were denying hard and that opened up the floor for me. The coaches kept telling me to drive and protect the basket. I was able to get into the paint because they were denying so hard. We felt great after hitting the last shot of the half. We had the same mindset to go inside and attack the paint."

SFU's Earl Brown

On Battling NEC Player of the Year Jalen Cannon
It takes a toll on your body going up a guy like Jalen. You have to give them credit. Jalen and the team played great defense. It drained me out but as a basketball player, you have to fight through it.  I noticed form the start of the game that I was getting denied as soon as I crossed half court. I was trying to find a way to score and I just couldn’t do it.


#2 Robert Morris 66, #3 Bryant 53
Click Here For Boxscore

Moon Township, PA - Sophomore guard Kavon Stewart set career highs in points (19) and steals (7) to help lead Robert Morris to a 66-53 victory over No. 3 Bryant Saturday afternoon at the Charles L. Sewall Center in the semifinals of the 2015 Northeast Conference Tournament.

RMU improves to 18-14 overall on the season with the victory and advances to the championship game of the NEC Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years. Bryant ends its season with an overall record of 16-15.

"A terrific game," head coach Andrew Toole said. "We had great energy to start the game. We knew Bryant was going to stick with their game plan and make a run, and that's exactly what they did. Our energy and intensity on defense picked up late in the second half, and for maybe the first time all season that really fed our offense."

Tied, 48-48, with 8:11 to play after a three-pointer from Dyami Starks of the Bulldogs, the Colonials scored the next 11 points of the game to grab a 59-48 advantage and take control. Stewart stared the surge with a three-point play, while senior forward Lucky Jones supplied four points. Junior forward Stephan Bennett and junior guard Rodney Pryor, meanwhile, each hit jumpers.
Defensively, Robert Morris held Bryant to just 2-of-7 shooting in the final seven and-a-half minutes of the contest while forcing a pair of turnovers.

The Colonials started the game hot, jumping out to a 14-3 lead in the first five and-a-half minutes of by hitting six of their 11 shots from the field. Pryor supplied five points, while freshman guard Marcquise Reed scored four.

Bryant weathered the run and made it a one-possession game three times, including a 25-22 deficit with 4:19 left before the break after a triple from Starks. RMU eventually held a 30-25 cushion at the break as Stewart scored eight points in the first half to bolster the Colonials.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 12-5 spurt to grab their first lead, 37-35, with 14:16 to play. Shane McLaughlin scored five points, while Bryant grabbed the advantage thanks to a pair of free throws from Joe O'Shea. That set up the final stretch that featured six ties and a pair of lead changes.

Pryor would tie the game, 37-37, thanks to a fastbreak layup, and over the next five minutes the two teams would trade three-pointers. Starks connected twice for the Bulldogs while Bosko Kostur also connected from deep, while Pryor, Jones and Stewart each hit triples for RMU.

Starks tied the game for the final time, 48-48, before Stewart ignited the final run for Robert Morris by converting the old-fashion three-point play thanks to a layup and foul courtesy of Bryant's Curtis Oakley.

Stewart shot 6-for-11 from the field for the Colonials, including 2-for-3 from deep, and finished 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. He added eight assists while becoming the first student-athlete from RMU to finish with at least seven steals since former guard Tony Lee (2004-08) registered eight thefts against Duquesne Dec. 2, 2006.

Pryor added 12 points, two assists, a block and a steal for Robert Morris, while Jones added 11 points and three steals off the bench.

Bryant was led by Starks, who scored 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting, including a 5-for-11 performance from beyond the arc. Kostur added 10 points, while McLaughlin finished with six points, eight boards and seven assists.

"It was important for us to advance this far in our third season of Division I eligibility," Bryant head coach Tim O'Shea said.

"Home court advantage is a big deal in this conference. We're disappointed we won't be advancing to play on Tuesday. Turnovers hurt us, and we missed free throws on the front end of one-on-ones. Give Robert Morris credit. They've been in these situations before, and their experience showed."

Robert Morris Head Coach Andrew Toole
 
Opening Statement
“A terrific game. We had great energy to start the game. We knew Bryant was going to stick with their game plan and make a run, and that’s exactly what they did. Our energy and intensity on defense picked up late in the second half, and for maybe the first time all season that really fed our offense.”

Bryant Head Coach Tim O'Shea
 
Opening Statement
“It was important for us to advance this far in our third season of Division I eligibility. Home court advantage is a big deal in this conference. We’re disappointed we won’t be advancing to play on Tuesday. Turnovers hurt us, and we missed free throws on the front end of one-on-ones. Give Robert Morris credit. They’ve been in these situations before, and their experience showed.”