Moon Township, Pa. -- With just less than a minute left in yesterday's game and a victory over host Robert Morris assured, a boisterous group of Mount St. Mary's students began chanting, "ESPN, ESPN!"
The Mountaineers will appear on the television network Wednesday night, when they will have a chance to complete an unlikely run to the NCAA tournament.
Jeremy Goode scored a game-high 23 points, and Mount St. Mary's upset the top-seeded Colonials, 83-65, in a Northeast Conference semifinal at the Sewall Center.
The Mount, seeded fourth, will travel to face No. 3 Sacred Heart in the NEC championship game at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The game will be televised on ESPN2, and the winner will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Mountaineers last appeared in the national tournament in 1999, when they lost to Michigan State in the first round of the Midwest Regional.
"I thought we could do this," Goode said. "When we had our first team meeting back in August, this was our goal. This is what we wanted to accomplish."
Reserve Kelly Beidler had 15 points and Jean Cajou scored 13 off the bench for Mount St. Mary's (17-14), which shot 54.3 percent and avenged two regular-season losses to the Colonials. Jeremy Chappell led Robert Morris (26-7) with 20 points. and A.J. Jackson added 16. Tony Lee, the NEC Player of the Year, was held to 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting.
Robert Morris opened the game with a three-pointer, giving the Colonials their only lead of the afternoon. Goode tied the score with a three of his own. His shot started a 12-0 run by the Mountaineers that put them ahead by nine points just five minutes into the game.
"It's a semifinal game. It's all or go home," Goode said. "We just wanted to set the tone. Once we saw we could do what we wanted to do, we took advantage of it."
The Mount led 38-31 at the half and increased its advantage to 19 points in the second half.
"I'm proud of our effort," Mountaineers coach Milan Brown said. "We continued to stay on the attack offensively. We didn't settle for a 10- or 11-point lead and hoped they would wilt. We continued to push."
MOUNT ST. MARY'S-Sa.Atupem 4-9 1-2 9, Mitchell 2-3 0-0 4, Goode 6-8 9-10 23, Vann 1-6 4-5 6, Holland 3-4 4-4 11, Cajou 4-6 3-4 13, Beidler 4-7 6-10 15, Sh.Atupem 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-46 27-35 83. ROBERT MORRIS-Jackson 5-12 4-6 16, Francisco 3-7 4-4 10, Langhurst 0-4 0-0 0, Chappell 8-14 2-3 20, Lee 3-9 4-4 10, Nwigwe 3-6 0-0 6, Harris 1-2 0-0 2, Ehirim 0-0 0-0 0, Wallace 0-2 1-2 1, Green 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 15-19 65. Half-Mount St. Mary's, 38-31. 3-point goals-Mount St. Mary's 6-12 (Goode 2-2, Cajou 2-3, Beidler 1-1, Holland 1-2, Vann 0-4); Robert Morris 4-22 (Chappell 2-4, Jackson 2-6, Francisco 0-2, Nwigwe 0-2, Lee 0-4, Langhurst 0-4). Fouled out-Chappell, Francisco. Rebounds-Mount St. Mary's 35 (Mitchell 8); Robert Morris 27 (Jackson 6). Assists-Mount St. Mary's 13 (Goode 4); Robert Morris 12 (Lee 7). Total fouls-Mount St. Mary's 17, Robert Morris 26. A-2,061.