Terriers take on Colonials in NEC title tilt

Mar 10, 2015 - 2:31 PM Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Another ticket to the NCAA Tournament will be punched Tuesday when the top-seeded Saint Francis-Brooklyn Terriers meet the second-seeded Robert Morris Colonials in the Northeast Conference championship game at Pope Physical Education Center.

Robert Morris comes into the title match on a five-game win streak after the Colonials took down third-seeded Bryant, 66-53, on Saturday in the conference semifinals. Robert Morris has won seven league titles in program history - the most in the Northeast Conference. The Colonials dropped last year's championship bout, however, to Mount St. Mary's, 88-71.

Saint Francis-Brooklyn has won 11 of its last 12 games played, including Saturday's semifinal matchup over Saint Francis-PA, 62-48. The top-seeded Terriers are in search of their first league title in school history.

The two teams met twice during the regular season, with each squad winning a road contest. Neither game between the programs was decided by more than five points.

Robert Morris will be hoping to continue its recent success. The Colonials have won five games in a row, and have now been to six of the past seven NEC championship games. But Robert Morris hasn't won the league title since the 2010 season when the team took a 52-50 victory over Quinnipiac (now a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference). The Colonials are 36-23 all-time in the NEC Tournament.

Rodney Pryor enters the championship game leading Robert Morris in scoring with 15.2 ppg on 48.2 percent shooting. He's followed in the category by Marcquise Reed (14.9 ppg) and Lucky Jones (14.4 ppg), who contribute to a Colonials offense averaging 69.1 ppg. In the last contest versus Saint Francis-Brooklyn - a 67-65 RMU victory in Brooklyn - Jones netted 15 points to pace the squad, adding in six rebounds. Kavon Stewart chipped in 13 points, and Pryor added 12 with eight boards in the narrow Colonials victory.

The only loss Saint Francis-Brooklyn has suffered since that 67-65 defeat at the hands of Robert Morris back on Jan. 24 was in the regular-season finale to Bryant, 61-51. Still, the Terriers earned the top overall seed with a 15-3 conference record, which helped the team take down LIU-Brooklyn (79-70) and Saint Francis-PA (62-48) to get to the league championship. Saint Francis- Brooklyn is one of three teams to never have won the NEC title. The team's all-time tournament record sits at 10-25.

Jalen Cannon paced Saint Francis-Brooklyn this season in scoring, averaging 16.5 ppg on 52.5 percent shooting. He completed a stellar season with a double- double average, adding in 10.4 rpg to his stat line. Brent Jones chipped in with 14.2 ppg and a team-best 174 assists, while Amdy Fall notched 78 blocked shots. In the Terriers' loss to Robert Morris back in January, Cannon tallied a double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds. Tyreek Jewell added 15 points, and Jones came close to a double-double with 11 points and nine assists. The Terriers shot 35.5 percent from the floor in the two-point loss.