Feb. 27, 2008

FAIRFIELD, CT - Setting The Scene: The Sacred Heart men's basketball team locks horns with the Colonials of Robert Morris University in a battle for first place in the Northeast Conference Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the William H. Pitt Center. SHU is coming off an 88-74 win over Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon.

Series: This is the 15th meeting between the two schools and Robert Morris holds an 8-7 lead, but the Pioneers have won the last four, including an 82-69 decision in Moon Township this season. Sacred Heart won both meetings last year, 90-74 in Fairfield, and 84-82 at RMU. The first meeting was February 12, 2000, an 86-50 victory by the Colonials.

Scouting the Opponent: Robert Morris has won 11 straight and sports a gaudy 23-6 record. They are coming off a 74-52 win over Wagner, outscoring the Seahawks 46-17 om the second half. The last Colonial loss came back on January 13 - to Sacred Heart. RMU posted strong non-conference wins earlier this season against Fordham and Boston College.

The Colonials start four guards, led by senior Tony Lee. Lee is putting up impressive numbers this season and is a candidate for NEC Player of the Year, averaging 13.9 points, a team-best 6.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 2.9 steals per game. He is also shooting an impressive 52 percent from the field.

Junior Jeremy Chappell is the leading scorer for RMU at 15 per game and is shooting 37 percent from three-point range. Senior forward AJ Jackson is the third Colonial averaging in double figures on the offensive end at 14.1 per contest. Jimmy Langhurst is the top long-range threat for the Colonials, hitting 56 treys and shooting them at a 42 percent clip.

The Coaches: Dave Bike (Sacred Heart '69) is in his 30th year as the head coach of Sacred Heart. He has a career record of 462-411 and guided the Pioneers in their transition from a Division II program to Division I. His 450 victories ranks him 21st among active coaches. He led the Pioneers to eight NCAA Division II tournaments, and his 1985-86 team won the national championship while finishing 30-4. Bike was named the national Coach of the Year by the NABC following the title game. Prior to joining the SHU coaching staff, he worked as an assistant at Seattle University for four seasons. Drafted as a baseball player by Detroit, he spent five seasons as a catcher in the Tiger farm system.

Mike Rice (Fordham `01 ) is in his first season as a collegiate head coach. He is the seventh head coach in the 32-year history RMU basketball. He came to the Colonials after working for a year as an assistant at Pittsburgh. He also has assistant coaching stints at Fordham, Marquette, Niagara, Chicago State and St. Joseph's.

Playoff Bound: The Pioneers clinched their third straight NEC tournament appearance with their win over Monmouth on February 7, becoming the first team to sew up a berth this year. The win over Quinnipiac on Fen 23 clinched a home game in the first round of the playoffs for the Pioneers.

Winning Ways: The Pioneers clinched their first back-to-back winning seasons with the win over Quinnipiac on February 23, pushing their record to 16-11. The last time SHU teams had consecutive winning campaigns was back in 1988-89 and 1989-90.

Where No Pioneers Have Gone Before: The Pioneers are 13-3 in the Northeast Conference for the first time in school history. The previous best NEC start for the SHU men was in 2006-07 when it was 9-7 after 16 games. The Pioneers finished that year with a 12-6 conference record.

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