Talk Back: The Mount upset Robert Morris on Sunday, do you think they’ll pull another upset tonight in the NEC title game?

By Pam Rigaux
News-Post Staff

Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team is up against stiff competition tonight as it faces Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference championship game.

But most students interviewed on campus Tuesday said the Mountaineers are pumped up over the victory against top-seeded Robert Morris in semifinal action Sunday.

"Beating a No. 1 seed by about 20 points, they're on a roll," said Matt Tuman, a freshman. "They're playing hot. When you're playing hot, you're hard to beat, so I actually think they're going to pull off another (victory)."

Mount sophomore Ed Brady occasionally hears progress reports about the team because his roommate is a walk-on. "Practices have been going well," Brady said. "Everything's coming together."

The Mount bench scored 30 points Sunday to Robert Morris' 9, according to the March 10 article in The Frederick News-Post.

The campus euphoria is contagious. Even faculty and students who don't normally follow basketball said they are feeling the camaraderie.

The Rev. Msgr. Stuart Swetland attended several games this season. "Our team has done quite well," he said. "We had some good preseason wins like against Winthrop who is an NCAA team like we hope to be."

The Mount did well in the regular season: 16 wins, 14 losses, he said. The Mount won its first two games in its conference tournament.

Tonight's game at Sacred Heart's home court at the William H. Pitt Arena in Fairfield, Conn., will determine the conference champion, who gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Mountaineers are not strangers to that trophy. In fact, they captured the title twice in the last 14 years. They won in '95 and '99 under coach Jim Phelan. Now Milan Brown is the coach.

Emmitsburg barber Tracie Stull believes an assistant coach, Kevin Robinson, is a key mentor.

"He's very ambitious, very motivated. He's a definite team leader," she said. "He gives them a high self-esteem (which) motivate(s) their other teammates."

At Emmitsburg Family Barber Shop on East Main Street, owner Jaime Andrew took a break from trimming a customer's hair to recall the town's pride the last time the Mountaineers won the NEC.

"It was great. Downtown, there was a parade," she said. "We had signs up welcoming them back."