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Moon Township, PA (AP) -- With the clock winding down, Robert Morris rushed to take a potential game-winning shot. Top scorer Jeremy Chappell got the ball, only to have it knocked out of his hands and directly to teammate Dallas Green.

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, the NEC Player of the Year who was also named NEC Tournament MVP, 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 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 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 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 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 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.

NEC All-Tournament Team
Justin Rutty, Quinnipiac
Joey Henley, Sacred Heart
Kelly Beidler, Mount St. Mary's
Rob Robinson, Robert Morris
Jeremy Chappell, Robert Morris (MVP)

Mount St. Mary’s Head Coach Milan Brown
Opening statement…
It was a hard fought game. Both teams left everything that had on the court. Some games, it’s just not meant to be. I thought we had a pretty good defensive stop there at the end. They made a heads up play. They picked up a ground ball and shot a floater and it went in. They made one more play than we were able to make.

On maybe feeling like they should have been up more points at halftime…
We missed a couple of opportunities and had too many turnovers in the first half. We missed a couple of chippie layups. We thought we had an opportunity to space out the lead but we just missed some shots and they were able to hang tough.

On the season review …
It was a positive season. We’re trying to build a program where this championship game is an annual event. We’re hoping that this isn’t our last game. Maybe somebody will give us a call and tell us they want us to play. We’ll show up with bells on and compete.

Mount St. Mary’s Jeremy Goode
On if The Mount was expecting Jeremy Chappell to take the last shot …
Yes, we knew he was their player. He’s made shots for them all year. We didn’t expect that to happen at the end. I thought we had a stop. The guy (Dallas Green) made a tough shot. I felt like we did what we were supposed to do. We were able to get Chappell to get the ball out of his hands but it wound up in someone else’s hands no one was expecting to shoot at that time of the game. It hurts more because you’d rather see a guy who made shots his whole career and it comes from someone who made his first basket of the night was the winner – that hurts.

Mount St. Mary’s Shawn Atupem
On taking the last shot on The Mount’s last offensive possession ...
We ran a play where I got it at the top of the key. I tried to be aggressive. I saw an opening. I went to the basket. I should have finished, I just missed the shot.

Mount St. Mary’s Kelly Beidler
On the different feeling this year compared to last year when The Mount won the title …
Last year we were the underdogs and we proved we were a tough competitor and tough team. Everybody knew we were going to be near the top of the conference this year. Robert Morris competed just like us. We knew it was going to be a fight .a battle. Defense and rebounds were going to be a big part of it. Part of March is making shots and they made a shot.

Robert Morris Head Coach Mike Rice
Opening statement …
I love the mental toughness our guys showed. It was a wonderful defensive battle. There’s no way we could have won a game like that last year or maybe earlier this year. We’ve been able to score but tonight shots weren’t dropping and The Mount was doing a great job on the defensive end. We just focused on ‘keep defending’ and following the game plan. I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team of just sticking together and their mental toughness.

On Dallas Green as an offensive option …
He’s probably the fifth option. He’s a screen machine, that’s his nickname.
On the last play …
We ran the play that I wanted. A high ball screen with Jeremy trying to split it but The Mount is a tough hard-nosed team. The ball got knocked away and Dallas went and got it.

On going to the NCAA’s…
The first 48 hours we’ll try to reflect on what we’ve done and the enormous accomplishment it is to go this far. The atmosphere was great tonight. I knew the first half would be tough. We don’t play in an atmosphere like that very often. We’ll celebrate a little bit responsibly.

Robert Morris’ Dallas Green
On the last play …
I think the play was for Jeremy but the ball just rolled to me. There was just three or four seconds left so I just shot it.  I know I’ve been helping the team all season in other ways. Jeremy was going to go and score. He didn’t pass it to me – things happen.

Robert Morris’ Jimmy Langhurst
On what Sunday’s selection show experience will be like …
It can be great. We’ll all be in that room together, just waiting to see our name come up. Once our name comes up, everyone will be jumping up and down. It’s going to be a great atmosphere. I can’t wait.

On the struggle the game was…
Just staying together. We have this rope in the huddle. We don’t want any strands to come apart so that was our whole motto. Our shots weren’t falling so we just went back on defense.

Robert Morris’ Jeremy Chappell
On the final play …
It wasn’t what I visualized, having the ball knocked away and Dallas shooting it but it worked out. Didn’t matter who made it as long as it went in.

2009 Northeast Conference
Men's Basketball Tournament
Presented By Esurance

All games played at home of higher seed.
Teams will be reseeded following quarterfinals.

Click Here For Tournament Bracket (PDF)
Click Here For Pre-Tournament Teleconfernce Soundbites
Click Here For All-Conference Release
Click Here For Tournament Preview
Click Here For Semifinals Notes
 

Quarterfinals
Thurs.	Mar. 5	#1 Robert Morris 73, #8 St. Francis (NY) 60	Final | Boxscore | Recap
		#2 Mount St. Mary's 72, #7 Wagner 62	Final | Boxscore | Recap
		#3 Sacred Heart 76, #6 CCSU 64	Final | Boxscore | Recap
		#5 Quinnipiac 86, #4 LIU 78 (OT)	Final | Boxscore | Recap
Semifinals
Sun.	Mar. 8	#1 Robert Morris 75, #5 Quinnipiac 48	Final | Boxscore | Recap
		#2 Mount St. Mary's 68, #3 Sacred Heart 63	Final | Boxscore | Recap
Championship
Wed.	Mar. 11	#1 Robert Morris 48, #3 Mount St. Mary's 46	Final | Boxscore