Boxscore
Moon Township, Pa. - Junior guard Karvel Anderson (Elkhart, Ind. / Glen Oaks Community College) tied a Charles L. Sewall Center record with eight three-pointers and produced a perfect night shooting to help propel the Robert Morris University men's basketball team to an 84-76 victory over Ohio Saturday night.
Making his first career start, Anderson finished 10-for-10 shooting from the floor, including 8-for-8 from beyond the arc, for a career-high 28 points in the win.
RMU improved to 4-4 overall on the 2012-13 campaign with the win, while the Bobcats suffered their first defeat of the year in falling to 6-1.
The Colonials never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 5-0 lead thanks to three-points from redshirt senior guard Velton Jones (Philadelphia, Pa. / Northeast Catholic) and a jumper from Anderson.
Ohio came back to knot the score, 5-5, after a three-pointer from Walter Offutt and a layup from Reggie Keely, which marked the only tie of the contest.
Nursing a 12-10 advantage at the 13:09 mark of the first half, Robert Morris used a 19-2 surge to open up its biggest lead of the contest, 31-12, with 7:09 left before the break.
Anderson was the main offensive catalyst, drilling four consecutive three-pointers, while Jones scored the final five points of the run.
The Bobcats didn't wilt, trimming their deficit to 37-31 at intermission by closing the half on a 19-6 run. Stevie Taylor put on his own show from beyond the arc, converting a trio, including one with 42 seconds left in the half that cut Ohio's deficit to six.
In the second half, Robert Morris was able stretch its lead back to double digits, 51-41, after a pair of free throws from redshirt senior forward Russell Johnson (Chester, Pa. / Chester), and another two shots from the stripe from Johnson with 7:31 remaining gave the Colonials a 66-57 edge.
However, the Bobcats used a 6-1 spurt to close within 67-63. Johnson responded with his first field goal of the contest by connecting from deep to push RMU's lead to 70-63, but a three-pointer from D.J. Cooper of Ohio capped a 6-2 run to make it a one-possession game, 72-69, with just 3:08 to play.
Jones would give the Colonials some breathing room with a pair of free throws, but Cooper again made it a one-possession contest with 2:17 to go after a driving layup.
However, with the shot clock winding down, redshirt junior guard Coron Williams (Midlothian, Va. / Christchurch School) buried a three-pointer from the corner to give Robert Morris a 77-71 advantage.
Cooper would be sent to the line with 1:33 to go and promptly hit a pair, but Anderson helped seal the win with his eighth trifecta of the contest, at the 1:08 mark of the second half.
Anderson is the sixth different Colonial in school history to drain eight three-pointers at the Sewall Center and the first since Williams turned the trick in an 87-68 win over Monmouth (3/1/12) in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Northeast Conference Tournament.
Johnson added 14 points off the bench for RMU on the strength of a 11-for-12 showing at the free-throw line, while Jones added 12 points and seven assists.
Ohio was led by Cooper, who scored 19 points but suffered through a 6-for-17 shooting night, including just 2-of-9 from deep. He also dished out 10 assists against just one turnover.
Offutt added 16 points for the Bobcats, Taylor contributed 11 points off the bench and Ivo Baltic finished with 10 points.
Robert Morris now returns to the road for two straight, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. tip against Campbell Tuesday, Dec. 4, in Buies Creek, N.C.
