Not surprisingly, the Robert Morris Colonials stumbled some Saturday with the pressure finally off, but they survived their visit to Long Island and now can turn their full attention to the Northeast Conference tournament.

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NEC tournament schedule

Thursday

• No. 8 Monmouth at No. 1 Robert Morris, 7 p.m.
• No. 7 Long Island at No. 2 Wagner, 7:30 p.m.
• No. 6 Central Connecticut State at No. 3 Sacred Heart, 7 p.m.
• No. 5 Quinnipiac at No. 4 Mount St. Mary's, 7 p.m.

Sunday

• Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed, 1 p.m. or 4 p.m.
• Third-highest remaining seed at second-highest remaining seed, 1 or 4 p.m.

March 12

• Championship game at highest remaining seed, 7 p.m. (ESPN2).

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The top-seeded Colonials will play eighth-seeded Monmouth (7-23, 4-14) at the Sewall Center Thursday night at 7 in the first round of the NEC tournament.

"Our second season is now," Robert Morris coach Mike Rice said. "We have to win three games to put our name on the board and go dancing in March."

The winner of the NEC tournament will advance to the NCAA tournament. If Robert Morris doesn't win the NEC tournament, it will play in the National Invitation Tournament -- maybe against Duquesne in the first round -- but the Colonials certainly aren't thinking about that.

They're probably not reflecting much on their slipshod, 71-68 victory at Long Island, either.

"Put some dirt over it," Rice said.

Instead, as they prepare for Monmouth, the Colonials can think about what they've accomplished this season.

They've won a program-record 13 consecutive games. They finished 16-2 in the NEC, tying Central Connecticut State last season and Mount St. Mary's in 1995-96 for the best finish in an 18-game schedule. They've won a program-record 25 games overall.

And they've done it all with virtually the same bunch that wobbled to a 17-11 record and a one-and-mercifully-done performance in the NEC tournament last season under former coach Mark Schmidt, who's now at St. Bonaventure.

Rice knows he inherited a good core of talent from last season.

"I think first I should thank Mark Schmidt for leaving me a lot of good players and Tony Lee," Rice said. "Every first-year coach should have a Tony Lee."

Lee, a strong candidate for NEC player of the year, helped Rice by convincing fellow senior A.J. Jackson to become more a part of the team.

"When Tony says something, it's like E.F. Hutton," Schmidt said.

Jackson listened.

"Last year was a fight," Jackson said. "I was fighting with Tony. I was fighting with [graduated point guard] Derek [Coleman]. I was fighting with the coach -- everybody.

"This year is different, and it shows. My numbers are down, but we're winning, so I could care less about scoring. It's just great to be in this position."

"Credit A.J. because he came out of his shell as far as selfishness," Lee said.

Rice, though, deserves much credit for other aspects of the turnaround, such as the Colonials' apparent new-found love for playing defense. He could wind up being the NEC coach of the year.

"I think a lot [of credit] goes to coach Rice," Lee said. "I don't think we would have had this season we're having if coach Schmidt were here. Coach Rice brings that energy. He brings that intensity.

"I don't think Mark Schmidt had that in him. I don't think he had that fire to get everybody pumped up, to get everybody on the same page, having everybody willing to play defense. I mean, he said it to us -- 'We have to play defense to win' -- but he never actually had eight or 10 or 12 guys willing to play defense, willing to do anything on the defensive end.

"When coach Rice came, all that changed. How he did it, I don't know. But he did it, and here we are."

NOTES -- Monmouth got its tournament spot after losing at Mount St. Mary's, 81-67, Saturday night. The Hawks received a reprieve when Fairleigh Dickinson's Manny Ubilla made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Saint Francis, Pa., 72-70, in overtime. Had St. Francis won, it would have played at Robert Morris Thursday. ... Monmouth will be without second-leading scorer Jhamar Youngblood (12.1 points per game). Youngblood, a sophomore guard, left the team several days ago and will transfer.