The Grambling State watch is back on tonight as the Tigers play their second to last regular season game, hosting Alabama A&M at 8:30 PM Eastern. However, the SCGD will be focusing tonight on the Northeast Conference, as the battle for the regular season championship heats up when Robert Morris travels to Bryant, 7:00 PM Eastern.
Robert Morris currently leads the conference with a 12-4 league mark, 20-9 overall. However, their lead is only one game over the Bryant Bulldogs, who sit at 11-5 in the NEC and 18-9 overall. Bryant won at Robert Morris back on January 3, meaning that a win by the Bulldogs tonight would not only tie the two teams at the top of the conference standings, but give Bryant the tiebreaker edge for the top seed on the conference tournament with only one game to go. Given that Bryant will end the season with a home game against lowly St. Francis (PA), a Bulldogs win tonight should all but wrap up the title for them. On the other hand, Robert Morris will clinch the outright league championship, building a 2 game lead with 1 to go, should they get the victory. The top seed is especially important in the NEC, which plays its conference tournament at the home courts of the higher seeded teams.
Bryant is coached by Tim O’Shea who has done an amazing job this season. The Bulldogs won only 3 games all of last year, and are now on the verge of their first ever NEC regular season title, and possibly their first ever trip to the Big Dance. Bryant scored some big wins non-conference as well, including knocking off Boston College on the road and winning at Lehigh before the Mountain Hawks lost C.J. McCollum for the season.
Robert Morris, on the other hand, has once again put together a solid season. The Colonials won 26 games last season and have been just as good this year, including a home victory over Ohio University back in December. Andrew Toole has done a solid job coaching this team ever since taking over for Mike Rice, who had led the Colonials to NCAA appearances in 2009 and 2010 before taking the Rutgers job.