Moon Township, Pa. - Senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) notched his fifth double-double of the season to lead the Robert Morris University men's basketball team to a 76-68 win over in-state rival Saint Francis (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The win snaps a two-game losing streak and improves the Colonials to 14-7 overall on the 2006-07 campaign, including 6-6 in Northeast Conference play, while the Red Flash fell to 4-19 overall and 1-11 in league action.
Robert Morris raced to a 25-9 lead in the first 10 minutes as Jackson and junior guard Tony Lee (Boston, Mass. / Charlestown) each scored nine points to pace the surge. The lead remained in double digits for RMU until Marquis Ford hit a three-pointer with 6:41 to play before the break to close the Red Flash within nine, 28-19. However, the Colonials visited the free-throw line 17 times in the first half, connecting on 16 of those opportunities, to help keep their lead in double digits. Saint Francis (Pa.) was able to close within seven at the break, 39-32, when J.R. Enright hit a three-pointer with five seconds to go before halftime.
The Red Flash carried that momentum over to the second half, scoring the first seven points of the stanza to knot the score at 39-39. Cale Nelson hit a three-pointer, while Ford tied it with a layup after a steal. Lee came back to push Robert Morris back on top, 42-39, with a three-pointer, but Enright answered Lee's trifecta with one of his own to tie the score again, 42-42. The second half featured eight ties, and the Red Flash logged their first lead of the contest with 5:08 to play, 60-58, when Enright scored a layup to cap a 13-7 SFU run.
Lee came back to give Robert Morris the lead for good when he scored on a layup with 4:22 to play and was fouled in the act by Ford. Lee converted the three-point play to push the Colonials in front, 61-60, which started RMU on a 12-2 spurt to help seal the victory. Sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest) hit a three-pointer during the run to give the Colonials a 64-60 edge, while senior guard Derek Coleman's (Dorchester, Mass. / Charlestown) fastbreak layup with 2:03 remaining after a steal by Lee pushed RMU up to an eight-point lead, 70-62.
Jackson finished 7-for-9 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line for his 22 points and added 10 rebounds, all defensive. Chappell finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals, while Lee contributed 19 points and five thefts. Enright led Saint Francis (Pa.) with a career high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, while Ford finished with 14 points, four assists and three steals.
Robert Morris is now off for a week and is next in action Saturday, Feb. 10, when it travels to Emmitsburg, Md., for a 7:00 p.m. contest at Mount St. Mary's.
Notes: Robert Morris shot an even 50 percent (23-for-46) from the field while Saint Francis (Pa.) converted 44.4 percent (24-for-54) of its shots ... It marks the first time in six games the Colonials held an opponent under 50 percent shooting in a contest ... RMU converted 26 of its 29 opportunities (89.7 percent) from the charity stripe ... The Red Flash won the battle of the boards, 32-28, and held a 14-8 edge on the offensive glass ... Coleman finished with eight points, six assists and two steals ... Coleman's six assists pushed his career total to 404, just the sixth Colonial in school history to eclipse 400 career assists.
