It was a milestone eight-plus years in the making for Robert Morris men’s basketball head coach Andy Toole.
In their 52-49 win over St. Francis Brooklyn Thursday night, in front of a national television audience, Toole passed former head coach Jarrett Durham who coached the Colonials from 1984 to 1996, with his 158th victory at Robert Morris.
When Toole took over the head coaching duties at Robert Morris before the 2010-11 season, there was immediate pressure to continue the winning ways the Colonials were experiencing.
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2019. Didn’t Y2K feel like just yesterday? I know, I’m dating myself.
Come this Thursday, if you can believe it, we finally begin the exciting and fast-moving nine weeks that is the 38th Northeast Conference men’s basketball regular season.
As usually the case, and it looks like no exception this season, it looks like another wild, unpredictable and likely a tight regular season is in store for us all and that is what makes the NEC season so much fun year in and year out.
But before, we dive into the new year and the new NEC season, let’s take a quick look back at some of the accomplishments and highlights of the non-conference season for NEC teams in 2018.
– St. Francis Brooklyn tops all with eight wins
Back in October at NEC Social Media Day, the NEC released their NEC preseason coaches poll and St. Francis Brooklyn was picked to finish seventh. That preseason prognostication didn’t daunt the Terriers, who came out of non-conference play with eight wins to lead all NEC teams. Three of their non-conference wins came on the road that was also a league-high with wins at Lafayette, Niagara, and Presbyterian.
– Robert Morris’ Josh Williams drops 49 points
In just his third game playing for Robert Morris, senior guard Josh Williams scored an RMU record 49 points against Division III side Mount Aloysius in the team’s home opener at the North Athletic Complex on November 14th. Williams tied an NCAA Division I single-game record for three-pointers made in a game with fifteen.
Robert Morris as a whole broke the NEC record for three-pointers made in a game by a team with 22.
NEC Overtime! Blog 