One game out of first place and with a winning record in his conference, Robert Morris' Mike Rice made an unusual coaching move: he tweaked his team's perimeter offense.

"The formula's changed a little bit," Rice said. "It's attacking the paint"

For the second consecutive game, it has proved to be a winning concoction.

The Colonials scored 38 points inside en route to a 78-67 victory against Monmouth last night at the Sewall Center.

With the win, and Long Island's 86-67 loss last night at Mount St. Mary's, the Colonials (10-8, 5-1) are tied for first place in the Northeast Conference with Long Island (7-10, 5-1) and Quinnipiac (11-6, 5-1).

The Colonials made 57.4 percent of their shots while Monmouth (8-10, 4-2) shot 36.1 percent from the field.

But the Hawks didn't start off shooting poorly.

Forward Ed Waite spurred Monmouth to an early 14-9 lead, scoring nine points in the first 5:02.

That deficit stretched to seven points before the Colonials began to close in. Forward Russell Johnson scored six points in four minutes, and guard Gary Wallace made a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the score, 23-23.

After shooting better than 60 percent for the first 12 minutes of the half, the Colonials cooled and missed six of their last 10 field-goal attempts and entered halftime trailing, 33-31.

Robert Morris struggled from the perimeter in the first half, shooting 20 percent behind the arc.

The Colonials -- and Monmouth coach Dave Calloway -- kept Waite from scoring again in the first half after his initial scoring flurry in the first five minutes of the game. Waite attempted one shot and sat on the bench for 10 of the remaining 15 minutes.

The first 10 minutes of the second half proved to be the most crucial in the game. The Colonials came out with the hot hand, scoring the first seven points and shooting 75 percent (6 of 8) through the first six minutes.Freshman guard Karon Abraham, the Colonials' leading scorer, poured in the first nine points for the team in the half.

"He's a talented individual when he is locked in like that," Rice said of Abraham, who finished with 21 points.

Meanwhile, the Hawks missed seven of their first eight shots of the second half (12.5 percent).

"Their defense had something to do with it," Calloway said.

The Colonials had a 50-38 lead with 14 minutes remaining.

Both teams settled into the half -- Robert Morris' shooting abated as Monmouth's improved -- but the lead the Colonials built in the early going proved to be too much.

The Hawks pulled within seven points once, but never could get any closer.

"When we fell behind a little bit, we're pretty young and inexperienced," Calloway said, making it difficult for Monmouth to mount a comeback.

The Hawks tried, behind sophomore forward Travis Taylor, who scored 14 points in the second half and 22 overall. Monmouth repeatedly got the ball to Taylor, which forced Robert Morris forward Rob Robinson in foul trouble.

Robinson had one foul in the first half but picked up four while guarding Taylor in the second, sending him to the bench with more than four minutes remaining.

Robinson said he thought the officials were calling the game tighter than usual.

"I really didn't adjust to their calling and I got a lot of dumb fouls," he said.

The Colonials led by more than double digits when their second leading scorer fouled out.

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