 "Photo: Brendan Rimetz/The Quad News")
Robert Morris earned its second consecutive Northeast Conference title and berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 52-50 win at Quinnipiac on Wednesday night. The top two seeds in the Northeast Conference battled back and forth all night, but it was a block from Robert Morris senior Dallas Green on Quinnipiac senior guard James Feldeine with 10 seconds remaining that punched the Colonials’ ticket.
With the Bobcats trailing 50-48, sophomore James Johnson forced a turnover, knocking the ball off freshman guard Karon Abraham’s foot to give Quinnipiac a chance to tie the game with 19 seconds left. The Bobcats turned to their leading scorer, Feldeine. The Bobcats decided to run an off-ball screen with junior forward Justin Rutty on the wing to free up Feldeine; a play which had worked well for the team all season.
“It gives us great options,” said Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore. “It puts our two best players in great scoring positions.”
The play didn’t work in favor of the Bobcats this time, as Robert Morris switched the screen, putting the 6-foot-8 Green on Feldeine and allowing him to get a piece of the shot. Feldeine finished with 17 points to lead Quinnipiac, but it was the points he didn’t get which made the difference.
“Every time [the ball] leaves my hand, I say to myself it’s going in,” Feldeine said. “It was good defense by Dallas Green.”
The Colonials corralled the loose ball following the block, and Green, a 70 percent shooter from the free throw line, hit both free throws to give Robert Morris a 52-48 lead with seven seconds to play.
After Johnson hit a pair of free throws, the Bobcats sent Abraham to the foul line with just under three seconds on the clock. Abraham, an 87 percent free throw shooter, missed both shots. Johnson snagged the rebound, but his desperation heave from beyond half court fell short at the buzzer.
Rutty finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Deontay Twyman added eight for the Bobcats, and junior forward Jonathan Cruz had nine boards. Abraham led the Colonials with 16 points and was named NEC Tournament MVP. Green and freshman forward Russell Johnson both finished with nine points. Both Rutty and Feldeine were also named to the All-NEC Tournament team for their efforts, along with Abraham.
Despite the record crowd of 3,607 at the TD Bank Sports Center, the Bobcats fell for first time at home this season after going 14-0. The loss also brought Quinnipiac’s record to 23-9, while Robert Morris improved to 23-11.
“[Robert Morris] played an absolutely incredible defensive basketball game tonight,” Moore said. “To hold us in this gym, in this atmosphere, to just six field goals in the second half and 35 percent shooting for the game is a phenomenal defensive accomplishment.”
In addition to just six second half field goals, the Bobcats hit on only 3-of-13 attempts from three-point range on the night, and turned the ball over 15 times as Robert Morris generated 13 steals.
The Colonials opened the game with a 10-4 lead, at which point Quinnipiac went on an 11-0 run to take a 15-10 lead of their own, before Abraham ended the run with a three. These leads would be the largest either team would hold in a game which had 10 ties and eight lead changes. Neither team was able to gain a lead of larger than three points for the entire second half.
Johnson provided a spark off the bench for the Colonials in the first half when their offense became stagnant, scoring eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field. The Robert Morris bench outscored the Quinnipiac bench 16-8 in the game.
The Bobcats, however, were able to hold a 25-23 lead into the half. Robert Morris came out fighting in the second half and was able to tie the score four times before finally gaining their first lead of the half on a three pointer from junior guard Gary Wallace at the 9:17 mark. Quinnipiac fought back and, after two more lead changes, was able to take a 46-45 lead with a little over three minutes to play on a three pointer from Twyman.
The teams continued to battle it out for the next two minutes, but RMU was able to take the lead at the 1:18 mark and never looked back. Quinnipiac was unable to do anything offensively and were only able to muster two free throw shots.
The Bobcats were also outrebounded for the second time all season. Robert Morris was able to grab 35 rebounds, while Quinnipiac only amassed 34.
While they were unable to attain the NCAA berth, the Bobcats still have one more game left to play as their NEC regular season championship gained them an automatic spot in the NIT Tournament. The players will need to focus, but Moore feels they will be ready.
“They’ll get up, it’s gonna take a couple days,” said Moore. “They’ll bounce back, they’re resilient.”
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