I’ve been trying to calm myself down in an effort to write a
more calm recap, but fuck it, right? RMU defeated Saint Francis Brooklyn by a
score of 71-70 in overtime to clinch the NEC regular season title.
Insane game. Karvel Anderson started off his senior day
performance by draining some mid range jumpers but couldn’t get stops on the
defensive end. St. Francis, who scored 43
points in their last game (FOURTY-THREE IN THE GAME) had 18 by the under 16
media timeout. They were absolutely crushing RMU in the low post and on the
glass.
Which brings me to Stephan Hawkins. I was told before the
game that Hawk was a no-go, then a few minutes later was told he was going to
give it a go and they hoped he would play 10-15 minutes. Then Hawk played 31 of
45 minutes. Gutsy effort. He didn’t bring a lot offensively, but he had five
boards and two blocks and provided solid low post defense in the second half.
It was a steady back and forth affair with not a lot of
defense being played in the first half. RMU scored 31 points, which is usually
good enough to lead Brooklyn through one, but
found themselves down six. In the first half, RMU was outscored in the paint
28-6.
The second half didn’t start much better (RMU was down 12
early in the half) but the defense improved. RMU had trouble with on-ball
screens in the first half but did a much better
job getting overtop of screens and taking away passing lanes.
The two teams went back and forth, playing gritty defense
and getting tough buckets in the lane. After a Kevin Douglas layup, RMU had the
ball in a tie game with the shot clock off and gave Karvel Anderson the ball,
who took an 18 foot step back jumper from the left wing that was just long. Overtime.
Overtime started off as great as it could have been. David
Appolon won the tip in the frontcourt, strolled to the basket with Kevin
Douglas guarding him and just… COCKED BACK AND THREW ONE DOWN IN THE MOST
DISRESPECTFUL WAY POSSIBLE OH MY GOD WHERE DID THAT COME FROM. Then RMU got a
stop and Karvel canned a three pointer for his 29, 30, and 31 points of the
game. SFC took a timeout, and answered RMU’s 7-0 run with their own 8-0 run.
Down two with 13 seconds remaining, Jalen Cannon (18 points)
got the ball in the low post, took some contact, and made a bucket with the
foul. The foul call was bullshit, especially that late in the game, but
whatever. Cannon drained the free throw and just like that RMU was losing.
The colonials came out of the timeout and gave the ball to Karvel
Anderson, who pulled up at the top of the key off a screen for three and
airballed. Lucky Jones was under the basket, grabbed the ball, and put it back
up and in with three seconds left. The ball hung on the rim for what felt like
forever before going in. Brent Jones took the inbounds, dribbled upcourt, and
threw up a 30 footer Tyler Ennis style that hit the bottom of the backboard and
just like that RMU improved to 13-1 in the NEC.
Analysis:
What a stretch of games. RMU came back from 16 against LIU
and 12 tonight. This win ensured home court advantage throughout the NEC
tournament and was the second straight year the colonials won the regular
season title.
-Karvel Anderson: 31 points on 13-27 shooting and 3-13 from
three in 42 (!!!!!) minutes. He was a little long on seemingly every three
point shot, but his left side mid-range game was unreal. The only time he
missed his stepback jumper was probably the missed game winner in regulation. NEC
MVP.
-Anthony Myers-Pate played a very controlled senior day. He
took one “adrenaline” shot to start the game but besides that shot 3-7 (1-1
from three) and 5-6 from the line. He was, per usual, very good on knowing when
to be aggressive and speed up or slow down the tempo. Ant was Toole’s first
recruit and he has put together an absolutely unreal career.
-Toole kinda shortened his bench tonight, which sounds silly
when you realize there are only eight guys, but he did. Chuck Oliver played
only 13 minutes and barely played in the second half. Aaron Tate played 19 and
Kavon Stewart played 20. Toole wasn’t thrilled with Chuck’s defense.
-Other role players are playing great basketball. David
Appolon continues to hustle and grab offensive boards. Hawkins gutted out 31
minutes and played well too.
-Tonight’s game was the second largest announced crowd of
the year. Great atmosphere. Incredible game. NEC champs.
--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella
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