Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's basketball team held Quinnipiac without a field goal in the first six minutes of the second half and turned a 41-38 halftime edge into a 20-point lead in cruising to an 86-68 win over the Bobcats Thursday night at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The win, the fourth straight for the Colonials, improves the club to 9-3 overall and 1-2 in Northeast Conference action on the 2006-07 campaign, while Quinnipiac fell to 2-10 overall and 0-3 in league play.
Up three at the break Robert Morris scored the first 18 points of the second half to seal the victory as the club got balanced scoring during its run. Junior guard Tony Lee (Boston, Mass. / Charlestown) contributed six points during the spurt, while senior center Freddie Harris (Decatur, Ala. / Lawson State C.C.) scored four points. The Bobcats missed their first seven shots from the field to start the second half while committing five turnovers as the Colonials built their big lead. Adam Gonzalez snapped the streak for Quinnipiac with a jumper to make it 59-40 in favor of RMU with 13:23 remaining, but the Colonials pushed their lead to as many as 27 in the second half en route to the win.
Robert Morris jumped out of the gates to a 19-10 lead on the strength of shooting from sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest), who scored seven points in the opening salvo. Despite the nine-point advantage the Bobcats clawed back to tie the score at 19 as DeMario Anderson scored four points and Casey Cosgrove hit a three-pointer.
Chappell would break the tie with a jumper on a fastbreak and RMU eventually opened up a 25-19 advantage, but an 11-2 run by Quinnipiac gave the Bobcats a 30-27 lead with 5:22 left before the break. Anderson scored five points during the surge, while Chris Wehye added a dunk. Junior forward Colson Sénat (Montreal, Quebec / Vanier College) came off the bench and hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 30 and added another trifecta to give RMU the lead for good, 33-30, with 4:38 to go before halftime.
Lee scored 20 points and added six rebounds, five assists and six steals to pace the Colonials, while Chappell added 18 points, senior guard Derek Coleman (Dorchester, Mass. / Charlestown) 13 and Harris 12. Coleman also notched his second career double-double thanks to a career high 11 assists. Quinnipiac was led by Wehye, who scored 17 points.
Robert Morris closes out a three-game homestand Saturday, Jan. 6, when it welcomes Central Connecticut State to the Sewall Center for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
Notes: Sénat finished with eight points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of action ... Senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) battled foul trouble and finished with just six points and four rebounds in 22 minutes of work ... RMU posted 16 assists on its 30 field goals ... Harris notched a career high seven rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, as the Colonials held a 37-32 edge on the glass ... Robert Morris is a perfect 6-0 at home in 2006-07 and owns a record of 17-2 in games at the Sewall Center dating back to the start of last season ... Anderson scored 12 points off the bench for Quinnipiac ... The Colonials held a 42-22 edge in points in the paint ... Lee was 6-for-11 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line ... Robert Morris hit on just 31.6 percent (6-for-19) of its three-point attempts.
