The men’s basketball team ended its season Thursday night with a loss against Robert Morris 87-68 in the first round of the Northeast Conference (NEC) tournament.
“I can’t say enough about our team, and our kids, and the way they battled. The way they fought through adversity the whole year,” said Head Coach King Rice. “It makes you proud to be a coach and I’m thankful that they allowed me to coach them for this year, especially down to the wire tonight.”
Coron Williams led the Colonials with 25 points, shooting eight of 11 from three-point range. Lucky Jones added 16 points off the bench.
Jones and Lawrence Bridges led the third seed Colonials with seven rebounds each.
The Hawks were able to slow down Velton Jones, holding him to 12 points after he dropped 35 on MU earlier this season. He scored only four points in the final 36 minutes of the game.
Ed Waite led the Hawks with 14 points on six-of-seven shooting. Jesse Steele added 11 and Mike Myers Keitt scored 10 off the bench.
Steele led MU in rebounds with five and assists with four.
Robert Morris jumped out quickly to an 11-1 lead 3:24 into the game. Velton Jones started hot scoring eight of the opening 11 points.
The Hawks responded with a 16-5 run to take a 17-16 lead on a Will Campbell layup with 11:33 remaining in the first half.
The Colonials answered quickly, going on a 12-2 run. A Lucky Jones jump shot put RMU ahead 28-19 at the 7:23 mark.
MU came back strong. They cut the Colonial lead to 31-30, getting points from Steele, Waite, Andrew Nicholas and Austin Tillotson.
At the halfway point, Robert Morris led 44-36.
The home team dominated the second half. The Colonials faced one scare five minutes into the half. The Hawks crawled within five at 53-48 after points from Phill Wait and Myers Keitt. The final 15:03 was ugly for MU.
The Colonials’ lead peaked at 22 after a Williams three-pointer with 6:37 remaining in the game.
“Tonight was a tough one. Robert Morris was hot. I thought we came in with a great game plan to get this win, but tonight they just outplayed us,” said Rice. “Tonight we got beat by a better team.”
Marcus Ware scored nine for the Blue and White and Campbell tallied eight in his last game as a senior.
MU took a big step forward in its first season under coach Rice. With a similar roster and more difficult schedule, the Hawks won three more games than they did a year ago and were able to qualify for the NEC tournament.
There is plenty of reason for optimism heading into the 2012-13 season. They lose contributors in Wait, Myers Keitt, and Campbell, but have a solid core of talent returning.
Tillotson and Nicholas will both be sophomores and look to build off of their first year experience. Guards Steele and Dion Nesmith will also be back and ready to get better as they get more comfortable in Coach Rice’s system.
The Hawks showed this year what they are capable of doing when they are playing their game. In the final week of the regular season, MU had two quality wins. The Hawks beat St. Francis (N.Y.), which finished fourth in the NEC. The Blue and White also defeated the regular season NEC champions Long Island University – Brooklyn by nearly 30 points in the season finale.
The Hawks head into the off-season hoping to carry over some momentum from the end of this season and get off to a fast start in the fall.
PHOTO COURTESY of MU Athletics
