Robert Morris vs St Francis (PA), Western PA Brawl

Robert Morris (14-11, 9-1) at St. Francis (PA) (7-16, 5-5)
When: Thursday February 13th, 7pm
Where: DeGol Arena, Loretto PA
KenPom: RMU 143, St Francis PA 310
Link: NEC Front Row
Storyline: The Colonials look to continue their dominance over their Western PA rival and go a perfect 3-0 on the current road trip. The Red Flash could use a win for NEC playoff positioning as the NEC tournament approaches.

Getting to know the Red Flash:

The Red Flash may be just 7-16 overall, but they're a hot basketball team at the moment. Winners of four of five, the Red Flash are coming off a very good performance in Brooklyn, where they defeated the LIU Blackbirds 74-58.

This is still a team with a lot of talent, but not much size, and not one senior who plays a major role. Earl Brown, an undersized forward at 6-5, will once again be a handful for the Colonials. In the first matchup, Brown finished with 11 points and seven boards, but gave the Colonials a lot of problems at the high post.

In that game, Brown got the Colonial bigs in a lot of foul trouble. Let's not forget RMU's zone wasn't nearly as good as it is now back on January 16th. We also have to remember that Andy Toole and the Colonials had the services of Mike McFadden and Jeremiah Worthem in that game. They combined for 20 points and nine rebounds in that contest.

Millaud-Meunier is a guy that can
shoot the Colonials out of their zone D.

The Flash still have a bunch of guards who can really shoot it from three. Ben Millaud-Meunier went for 17 in that first game, including 5-8 from three. The Red Flash as a team made 11 three's in that game. It helped them erase a 14 point deficit, and gain an 11 point lead with four minutes to go. RMU had enough firepower to make a comeback, but that second half run will give St Francis confidence heading into the second matchup.

Guards Malik Harmon and Stephon Whyatt join Millaud-Meunier in the backcourt. They need to have strong games if St Francis wants to have a shot at upsetting the first place Colonials.

Continue Dominance: 

RMU got a major scare from the Red Flash last time around at the Sewall Center. The Colonials really struggled defensively in the middle of the second half, and St Francis made some deep three's. The Red Flash turned a 14 point deficit into an 11 point lead in the blink-of-an-eye.

But Robert Morris came back, and got the win. Something the Colonials are accustomed to doing against their Western PA "rivals." With that win, RMU has won 12 straight over the Red Flash, and will look to push that number to 13 Thursday night.

Feed the Beast:

Last season in DeGol Arena, Karvel Anderson scored 18 straight points against the Red Flash. It was one of the better scoring displays I have ever seen. Anderson finished with 22 points that game. In the other meeting last season, he went for 17. In this years meeting at the Sewall Center, he went for 24.

Get the trend? Karvel should shoot, and shoot a lot. He does that well against these guys (and everyone else for that matter). The senior is right there in the Player of the Year conversation with Alex Francis. It's a two horse race with everyone else in the league far behind. Anderson probably has a small leg up at this point, but needs to continue to have big games. He also needs to continue to have big games for

Anderson has experienced nothing
but success against SFPA.
(NEC OT)

RMU to get victories, and that's the most important thing with March approaching.

Adjustment Period: 

Since that wild week in which RMU lost six guys and the roster was trimmed to eight guys, the Colonials have been very good. That's been documented plenty, but this game will be intriguing. As mentioned above, the Colonials got a nice game from both Worthem and McFadden against the undersized Red Flash. The freshman a Worthem hit the biggest shot of the game, drilling a three on the wing to give RMU the lead back, as RMU made a big late comeback.

Seal the Deal:

If you didn't have a chance, check out Chris' article here on RMU's strong hold on first place as the NEC approaches. The Colonials need to get to 12 wins to have a good shot at winning the league. That requires a minimum of 3-3 the final six games.

With a difficult stretch of games at FDU and at Wagner to end the season, it would behoove the team to win three of the next four (with three straight at home after this game on the road) and wrap this thing up before that final road trip. A win here would be a great start.

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5