Quarterfinals
#1 Robert Morris 73, #8 St. Francis (NY) 60
Moon Township, PA -- Top seeded Robert Morris (22-10) connected on 12-21 field goals (57%) to start the game, including four early three-pointers to take a 30-12 lead and the Colonials never looked back in a 73-60 victory over No. 8 seed St. Francis (NY) in the Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinal round Thursday night at the Sewall Center.
NEC Player of the Year Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, OH/Northwest) paced the Colonial attack with 19 points and six assists. Junior forward Rob Robinson (Waldorf, MD/Globe Tech) tallied nine points and 13 rebounds, one shy of a career-high, while junior forward Dallas Green (Indianapolis, IN/Northwest) went for 10 points on 5-8 shooting.
The Colonials connected on three of their first four three-point attempts and led 17-6 just over five minutes into the contest. St. Francis (NY) started just 2-10 from the floor and the Terriers went scoreless over a six-plus minute stretch midway through the half while RMU went on a 10-1 run to take control of the game.
All nine of the Robert Morris players who saw action in the first half scored. RMU finished the opening stanza shooting 48 percent (14-29) and received 13 points from its bench before intermission.
Terrier senior guard Jamaal Womack (Bronx, NY/Our Savior Lutheran) tallied 15 of the team’s 23 first half points with two three-pointers in the final 1:29 of the stanza leading SFNY on a 8-0 run to finish the half as Robert Morris led 37-23 at the break.
Ironically, all five of Terrier first half field goals were from behind the three-point line.
"I thought out intensity and focus was very good in the first 10 or 15 minutes," said RMU head coach and NEC Coach of the Year Mike Rice. "Even when it got to single digits in the second half, I liked our fight. We came away with some empty possessions but we defended well on what St. Francis was trying to do."
Robert Morris led 60-42 with 9:48 left in the game but went scoreless for more than three minutes. The Terriers scored nine straight points and trailed 60-51 with 7:02 remaining but St. Francis (NY) would get no closer.
"Obvious we’re disappointed with the outcome," said St. Francis (NY) head coach Brian Nash. "We know we dug ourselves too much of a hole in the first half. Anytime you get down 20 points to a team that is that good on their home and they’re playing as hard as they were, its tough to battle . We did a good job but we couldn’t get the one or two plays back- and-forth that might have made it a five-point game."
Womack finished with 18 points and four treys in his final collegiate game. Sophomore guard Ricky Cadell (New York, NY/The Patterson School) posted a game-high 20 points.
Robert Morris will now take on #5 Quinnipiac, an 86-78 overtime winner over #4 seed Long Island. The Colonials and Bobcats will duel on Sunday, March 8 at 2:00 p.m. at the Sewall Center.
Quarterfinals
#2 Mount St. Mary's 72, #7 Wagner 62
Emmitsburg, MD -- Sophomore Jean Cajou (Fairfax, VA/Paul VI) scored 10 points over the final 4:31 to lead No. 2 seed Mount St. Mary’s to a 72-62 win over No. 7 seed Wagner in the Northeast Conference Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday night at Knott Arena. Mount St. Mary’s, the defending NEC champions, advance to the NEC Tournament semifinals for the third straight season.
With the score tied at 52-52 with 6:22 left in the game, the Mount (18-12) scored seven straight points to grab a 59-52 advantage. The final three points came on a deep Cajou three-pointer as the shot clock was about to expire with 4:31 left in the game.
Wagner (16-14) answered with a Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) 30-foot three-pointer despite a strong challenge from Cajou to cut the deficit to 59-55. After the Mount’s Shawn Atupem (Newport News, VA/Woodside) converted in the lane, Mundweiler hit a free throw and Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) a three-pointer to cut the Mount lead to 61-59 with 2:48 left in the game.
Mount St. Mary’s grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds to keep the next possession alive and Cajou was able to bury a three-pointer from the right wing for a 64-59 advantage with 1:35 left to all but seal the win.
"It was absolutely a Northeast Conference first-round playoff game," said Mount St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown. "It was intense and you had to be tough to pull this one out. We just happened to make a few more plays at the end and we get to move on."
The Mount won despite shooting 39.3 percent from the field in the game. A 40-30 advantage on the boards and 20-of-26 (.769) shooting at the foul line helped the Mount overcome the poor shooting. The Mount also committed just one turnover in the second half after posting eight miscues in the opening 20 minutes.
Cajou scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, hitting 6-of-12 from the field in the game and 3-of-6 from three-point range. Shawn Atupem chipped in 16 points and Beidler added 15 points and seven rebounds to pace the Mount in the victory.
Mundweiler scored 15 of his 22 points in the opening half. He finished the game 7-of-13 from three-point range, matching the NEC Tournament record for three-pointers in a game. Jamal Smith and Drummond each added 11 points and four assists in the loss.
Quarterfinals
#3 Sacred Heart 76, #6 Central Connecticut State 64
Fairfield, CT -- Junior Chauncey Hardy (Middletown, CT/Xavier) led all scorers with 22 points to help the #3 seeded Sacred Heart Pioneers defeat #6 Central Connecticut State, 76-64, in a Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinal Thursday night.
The Pioneers (17-13), winners of six straight, scored the first seven points of the game. Central, 13-17, got its first points with 16:11 left in the first half on a jumper from David Simmons (Syracuse, NY/Henninger). Ken Horton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) cut the SHU lead to 13-11 with a three with 8:33 to go in the half.
Hardy, who missed the last two Pioneer regular season games, knocked in a three with 1:55 to play in the period to give the Pioneers a five-point edge. Sophomore Jerrell Thompson (Plainfield, NJ/Plainfield) hit a runner in the lane at the horn sounded to give SHU a 33-25 lead at the intermission.
The Pioneers had to play almost ten minutes of the half without first team All-NEC selection Joey Henley (Kent. WA/Kentridge), who picked up his second foul midway through. Hardy had 13 of his 22 in the period.
After a quiet first half, junior Corey Hassan (Merrimack, NH/Merrimack) came out on fire in the second. Hassan scored ten of his 13 points in the half, including a pair of treys that helped the Pioneers extend their lead to 52-39 with 13:56 left.
The Blue Devils still had some fight in them and a Joe Seymore (New Castle, DE/Hodgson) jumper with 2:50 to go had them back within seven at 71-64. Hardy pushed the lead back to nine with a pair of free throws with 1:44. Ptacek missed a foul-line jumper on the next CCSU possession and Henley was fouled driving to the basket. He made one of two tries to put the Pioneers up 74-64 with 1:34 left to put the Blue Devils away.
Robby Ptacek (Bayport, NY/Blue Point) led Central with 15 points, shooting just 6 of 18 from the field. Horton and Simmons finished with 12 apiece.
Henley finished with a double-double for SHU with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Hassan also finished in double figures with 13 points. Senior Ryon Howard (Bronx, NY/Holderness School) had nine points and ten rebounds.
The Pioneers, who will face #2 seed Mount St. Mary's on Sunday in Emmitsburg, MD, turned the ball over just ten times in the game and canned nine of 21 three-pointers (42.9%).
Quarterfinals
#5 Quinnipiac 86, #4 Long Island 78
Brooklyn, NY -- Fourth-seeded Long Island rallied from a 16-point second half deficit and forced overtime at the buzzer, but No. 5 Quinnipiac rallied in overtime to win in the Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Quarterfinals, 86-78, on Thursday night at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center.
The Bobcats (15-15) advance to face top-seeded Robert Morris on Sunday, March 8 at 2:00 p.m.while the Blackbirds finish the season 16-14 overall.
A jumper by QU junior forward James Feldeine (New York, NY/Cardinal Hayes) with 7:48 to play capped a 13-2 run to give Quinnipiac its largest lead of the night at 58-42 before LIU began to mount a furious comeback. The Blackbirds held the Bobcats to just four field goals the rest of regulation and were aided by poor foul shooting, as QU went 7-16 down the stretch.
LIU sophomore guards Kyle Johnson (Ajax, Ontario/West Hill) and David Hicks (Mendota Heights, MN) started the LIU rally with three-pointers on consecutive possessions to trim the LIU deficit to 60-48 with 6:39 to play. A layup by sophomore forward Justin Rutty (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Acad.) was QU’s last field goal of regulation to make it 66-54 with 5:03 to play. The Blackbirds hit four straight field goals and a pair of foul shots by freshman guard Lucas Faggiano (Bahia Blanca, Argentina) with 27 seconds to play got LIU with 71-70.
Jeremy Baker (Washington, D.C./Garden City CC/Marriott Public Charter) followed with a foul shot for QU and after an LIU turnover, senior forward Louis Brookins (Silver Spring, MD/Springbrook) hit 1-2 at the line to make it 73-70 with 15 seconds left in regulation. The Blackbirds set up an inbounds play with 2.8 seconds, and freshman forward Julian Boyd (San Antonio, TX/William H. Taft) got open at the top of the key and hit his first career three-pointer as time expired to send the game to overtime.
In the extra period, Rutty hit a layup to open the scoring for the Bobcats and a pair of foul shots by Baker on the next possession made it 77-73. LIU clawed back to within 77-76 after Hicks rattled off three straight points, but senior guard Bryan Geffen (Queens, NY/St. Francis Prep) answered with a three-pointer to put QU up four. A layup by Hicks cut the deficit to 81-78, but Feldeine and Baker combined to go 4-6 on foul shots the rest of the way to seal the win.
"I have an incredibly resilient and incredibly tough group of kids," Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore said. "Honestly, in all of the years that I was at Worcester State and UConn, I’ve never seen a team develop more toughness as a group."
Feldeine finished with a game-high 22 points, while Rutty added 18 points and 16 rebounds. Baker and Geffen added 13 and 12, respectively, for the Bobcats who shot 50.0 percent as a team and held a 47-38 advantage on the glass.
Boyd led LIU with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Johnson added 16 points. Junior Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, NY/Banneker Acad.) scored 14 points and Hicks added 10. Senior forward Ron Manigault (New York, NY/City College of San francisco) added nine rebounds. The Blackbirds forced 19 turnovers and went 20-28 (71%) from the foul line to make up for a tough-shooting night from the floor (38%).
"We made some plays and then Julian Boyd hits that three to put it into overtime," LIU head coach Jim Ferry said. "I thought the kids just showed great character like they had all year. This is a young team led by Ron Manigault and Jaytornah (Wisseh). I thought we showed a lot of heart against a very good team."