Robert Morris, NEC Basketball Champs, Back in Brooklyn

FORT GREENE. Tonight’s 7 p.m. game against LIU at the Steinberg Wellness Center tips off his team’s Northeast Conference (NEC) road schedule, but Robert Morris men’s basketball coach Andrew Toole sought to downplay the challenge of winning on the road against tough NEC teams.

“We’ve developed a number of rivalries within the league the last few years, and certainly the two teams in Brooklyn are no different,” said Toole, whose squad will also face St. Francis Brooklyn at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Generoso Pope Athletic Center in a rematch of the 2015 Northeast Conference title game, a 66-63 Robert Morris win.

The Colonials (2-13; 0-2 NEC) have dropped four straight—including two NEC games at home last weekend—and are winless (0-9) away from home, but don’t expect LIU head coach Jack Perri or St. Francis’s Glenn Braica to roll out a red carpet for their visitors.

LIU Brooklyn (7-6; 1-1 NEC)—gunning for a fourth NEC crown in the past six years—will seek a signature win over the reigning NEC champs, who the Blackbirds swept in last year’s season series.

St. Francis, with memories of a breakout 2014-15 season beginning to fade under the weight of an 4-11 start (0-2 NEC), would like nothing better than to beat Robert Morris. Last March the Colonials came to Brooklyn and trampled Terrier dreams of a first-ever NEC title and NCAA tournament berth.

Despite being tabbed the conference’s second best team, early results for the Colonials have not been good.

Toole, now in his sixth season leading Robert Morris, lost two of his top players from last season. All-NEC standout Lucky Jones graduated while 2015 NEC Rookie of the Year Marcquise Reed transferred to Clemson.

With a 112-78 (.589) RMU won-loss record, including a NEC-best mark of 65-23 (.729) in conference play the past five season, Toole knows how to rebuild, especially with talented senior forward Rodney Pryor on his roster. Leading the NEC with 20.5 points per game and pulling down 7 rebounds a game—significant improvements from last season’s 15.6 ppg / 4.7 rpg averages—Pryor has elevated his game. But he needs help.

“Rodney has been fantastic this year, but we’re still looking for a secondary scorer to be a consistent presence,” Toole said. “We’ve gotten contributions from various guys, whether it’s Elijah [Minnie], Billy [Gilles] or Isaiah [Still], but being consistent is usually the final piece that seems to fall into place.”

Integrating eight new players, including six freshmen, into his roster will take time, but there’s nothing like games against conference rivals to accelerate the learning curve of Toole’s young squad.

LIU’s early success is mainly due to newcomer Jerome Frink, a 6-7, 230lb power forward who’s second in the NEC in scoring (16.8 ppg) and leads the conference in rebounding (8.7 rpg). A red shirt junior transfer, Frink has been nothing short of spectacular over his first 13 games as a Blackbird, already copping NEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honors twice.

Perri sought to downplay expectations for his budding star player going into Thursday night’s contest.

“Not really expecting anything different from Jerome, he’s been pretty consistent in what he is,” Perri said by email. “We’re going to want him to hit the offensive glass hard against their 2-3 zone. If he’s on the perimeter and he’s open, we want him to shoot the basketball.”

That’s a good bet; Frink is hitting 55% of his shots, including 35% from three-point range (12 of 35).

If the Colonials key on Frink, Perri can rely on a stellar backcourt of sophomore guard Martin Hermannsson and junior transfer Aakim Saintil. Hermannsson is the Blackbirds’ second leading scorer (15.5 ppg) while the speedy Saintil, third on the squad in scoring (13.6 ppg), is an aggressive defender who’s second in the NEC in steals (2 per game).

Despite recent history—RMU and LIU have each captured three of the past six NEC titles—Perri said that Thursday’s game is no different than any other.

“I don’t look at this as a game that’s any different than any of the other ones on our schedule,” said Perri, now in his third year as LIU’s coach. “It’s a different year and it’s going to be a really tough game, like all of our games, and our guys are going to have to be prepared.”

Losing Jalen Cannon, 2015 Northeast Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year, and Brent Jones, SFC’s spark plug point guard, to graduation makes this year’s Terrier squad offensively inconsistent, as demonstrated by Monday’s 44-40 overtime loss to NEC frontrunner Mount St. Mary’s.

St. Francis’s Chris Hooper is a dynamic presence underneath when he’s on the court, but—like Amdy Fall, 2015 NEC Defensive Player of the Year—he must avoid petty fouls if the Terriers are to have any chance against the deeper Colonials.

Toole acknowledged that whenever Robert Morris comes to town it’s going to be an intense experience for all—fans included.

“The games are hard-fought, are usually close and always come down to the last few possessions.”

LIU Brooklyn men’s basketball versus Robert Morris, Thursday, January 7, 7 p.m. The Steinberg Wellness Center, 161 Ashland Place (between Court and Clinton Streets); Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children. For information contact Sharon Abbate, Associate Director of Athletics at sharron.abbate@liu.edu / 718-780-4072

St. Francis Brooklyn men’s basketball versus Robert Morris, Saturday, January 9, 4 p.m. The Generoso Pope Athletic Center, 180 Remsen Street (between Court and Clinton Streets); Admission is $12 for adults. For information contact Maggie Martini, Director of Athletic Marketing / SWA at mmartini@sfc.edu / 718-489-5411

PHOTO CAPTION: LIU Brooklyn’s Jerome Frink dunks against Central Connecticut in Monday night’s 76-67 Blackbird win
PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Dea