Freshman Stefan Perunicic and his St. Francis teammates displayed a head-shaking performance from 3-point range last night, then held off Robert Morris down the stretch to grab an 87-79 victory in the Northeast Conference opener for both teams at the Sewall Center.

The visiting Terriers were 17 for 25 from beyond the arc, led by Perunicic's marvelous 7-for-11 3-point accuracy en route to a game-high 28 points.

"Talk about hot? Holy smokes!" Robert Morris coach Mike Rice said. "I've seen people make seven 3s in a game, but I've never seen 3s made like that.

"On five of those seven, we played not good defense [but] great defense. He was three steps behind the 3-point line with three seconds on the shot clock and he made 3 like that."

Rice shook his head.

"No question that quickened up our offense. It affected us. And the other players on their team, their elbows got a lot looser."

St. Francis (2-4) entered the game shooting a respectable 37.2 percent from 3-point range and averaging 26 attempts.

"We shoot a lot of 3s," Terriers coach Brian Nash said. "I hope it's not going to be a case of 'live by the 3, die by the 3,' but I guess we started out the right way [in the NEC]."

Interestingly, Nash considered not starting the 6-foot-6 Perunicic last night.

"He's been getting frustrated by being guarded by quicker people," Nash said. "And we knew how hard Robert Morris defends and how they get up on you. I thought [Perunicic] was going to struggle, and I thought about using a quicker lineup."

Perunicic rewarded Nash's decision to start him by scoring 8 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes, including 6 points on two rainbow 3s.

He finished the first half with 20 points and was 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.

"It's deflating," Robert Morris guard Gary Wallace said. "He was shooting from the volleyball line and hitting nothing but net."

"Amazing," Colonials guard Jimmy Langhurst said. "He had guys in his face, but he's got a stroke. He's tall at the guard spot. He has a quick release -- and unlimited range."

"He'd probably shoot from half court if you let him," Wallace said.

The Colonials, however, answered early, getting two 3s from Langhurst and another one from Wallace to go on a 15-2 run and take a 20-13 lead eight minutes in.

Then Robert Morris (3-4) went cold from beyond the arc. After starting 5 for 5, the Colonials made just 1 of their next 18 launches from that range.

Still, they stayed within striking distance of the Terriers.

"You look up and we're down by 4 and you think, 'We're good. We have time,' " Langhurst said.

Robert Morris trailed, 78-74, with 1:10 left and decided to foul Ricky Cadell, a 57 percent free-throw shooter, down the stretch.

All Cadell did was make 6 of 6 over the next 43 seconds.

"He stepped up and knocked down free throws," Wallace said. "That kept us like the caboose trying to catch up. What can you say?"

Jeremy Chappell led the Colonials with 22 points but was just 2 of 9 from beyond the arc. Josiah Whitehead and Mezie Nwigwe contributed 12 and 11 points off the bench.

Robert Morris plays host to Long Island tomorrow night in another NEC game.