Mount St. Mary's has not necessarily dominated entire games during the nine-game winning streak that has the Mountaineers in the Northeast Conference title game at LIU Brooklyn tonight at 7 (on ESPN2).
But, with their fast-paced, pressing style of play, the Mountaineers have been able to go on quick, game-changing runs.
Sometimes the spurts have turned a deficit into a lead. Sometimes they've turned a close game into a blowout. But they've been the constant during this hot streak.
In Saturday's semifinal win over top-seeded Robert Morris, for example, the Mountaineers used a 20-6 run over a nine-minute stretch of the second half to put the game away.
"That's the beauty of the style they play," RM coach Andrew Toole said, referring to watching game film of the Mount. "I would sit there and watch and I would take notes and you could just see the run developing. You could see the style wearing on teams, you could see teams breaking down mentally and physically. And then they'd go on a run like they did."
It has happened in every game during the winning streak. A 21-3 run at St. Francis (Pa.). A 25-12 run against Bryant. An 11-0 run against Central Connecticut. And then runs of 22-9 against LIU, 22-9 vs. St. Francis Brooklyn, 28-11 at Monmouth, 27-15 at Fairleigh Dickinson, and 26-11 at Bryant in the first round of the NEC tournament.
"They speed you up," Toole said. "Part of their formula is to speed you up and make you play faster than you want to. We played right into their hands.
"It was 36-29 and I think we took a couple shots from Monroeville, and wondered why they were getting run-out dunks on the other end. ... Now all of a sudden they're jumping around, they're energized and you're walking back to the huddle like, 'What just happened?'
"During their nine-game winning streak, it's happened in every game."
