New Britain, Conn. - Junior guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest) scored five straight points with under two minutes remaining to highlight an 11-0 run to lift the Robert Morris University men's basketball team to its eighth straight victory Thursday night with an 80-74 win over Central Connecticut State at Detrick Gymnasium.
The victory improved the Colonials to 20-6 overall, including 11-2 in the Northeast Conference, while the Blue Devils fell to 12-13 and 8-6 in league play. The win, coupled with a double overtime loss by Sacred Heart at Wagner, pushes RMU into a first-place tie with the Seahawks.
Chappell's jumper with 1:58 remaining gave Robert Morris a 69-68 lead, and after a missed three-pointer by Tristan Blackwood of CCSU, Chappell drained one from beyond the arc to give the Colonials a 72-68 advantage with just 1:25 to go. Blackwood missed another three-pointer, and freshman guard Gary Wallace (Montclair, N.J. / Seton Hall Prep) hit one of his two opportunities at the charity stripe to push RMU to a 73-68 lead with 45 ticks left on the second-half clock.
Central Connecticut State closed its deficit to four on a pair of occasions in the final 30 seconds, but senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. / Monessen) highlighted the victory with a dunk with just six seconds to go on a feed from senior guard Tony Lee (Boston, Mass. / Charlestown), who recorded his second straight triple-double thanks to 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The victory established a new school record for consecutive road wins (7) as well as road victories in a season (11), while Robert Morris has now posted its fourth 20-win season in the 32-year history of the program and the first since the 1989-90 club finished 22-8.
RMU was down by one at halftime, 39-38, and Central Connecticut State used an 8-2 spurt in the first three minutes out of the break to take a 47-40 advantage. Shemik Thompson hit a pair of layups for the Blue Devils, while Ken Horton and Marcus Palmer each added baskets. RMU called a 30-second timeout and scored five of the game's next six points to close its deficit to three, 48-45, but Thompson and Horton each hit a pair from the free-throw line to give CCSU a 52-45 cushion.
Blackwood's three-pointer gave the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game, 55-47, but a 9-2 Colonial surge pulled Robert Morris within one, 57-56. Lee hit a pair of layups, while sophomore guard Mezie Nwigwe (Hyattsville, Md. / High Point) hit a big three-pointer. Despite the run, Blackwood hit another three-pointer and a technical foul on the RMU bench gave Central Connecticut State a seven-point lead, 63-56, with 8:34 remaining.
Robert Morris kept the game close as Jackson came back with a three-pointer to start a 7-1 run to close the deficit to one again, 64-63. Layups from Horton and Aaron Hall pushed the Blue Devils to a 68-63 edge, but an 11-0 run helped the Colonials seal the victory.
Chappell led RMU with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting and also added nine rebounds and five steals, while Nwigwe contributed 12 points off the bench. Lee added 12 points and Jackson 10. Thompson led Central Connecticut State with 20 points, while Palmer finished with 16 points and Blackwood 15.
Robert Morris will search for its ninth straight win Saturday, Feb. 16, when it travels to Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., for a 2:00 p.m. tilt at St. Francis (N.Y.).
