Staten Island, N.Y. - The Robert Morris University men's basketball team opened a three-game road trip Thursday night with an 80-68 setback to Wagner in a Northeast Conference game at the Spiro Sports Center.
The Colonials, who have now dropped two in a row, slipped to 16-8 overall and 7-4 in the NEC, while the Seahawks improved to 18-4 and 9-2 in the league.
Wagner never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 14-2 lead as RMU hit just one of its first 12 attempts from the field in the opening 10 minutes of action. The first four points came courtesy of freshman guard Brandon Herman (Chattanooga, Tenn. / Charis Prep), who tied a career high with 11 points to lead Robert Morris.
Despite the 12-point deficit early, the Colonials trimmed Wagner's lead to 18-12 with an 8-4 surge, but the Seahawks scored the next seven points to get their lead back to double digits, 25-14.
That seemed to be the theory of the evening, as each time Robert Morris would get within striking distance, Wagner had an answer with a few quick baskets.
Latif Rivers scored 17 of his season-high 28 points in the first half as the Seahawks owned a 44-30 edge at halftime. Wagner's biggest lead before intermission came with just 1:04 left in the first half, when Naofall Folahan hit a pair of free throws to give the hosts a 42-25 edge.
Wagner kept the Colonials at bay in the early portions of the second half, matching its 17-point lead on four different occasions in the first 10 minutes after the break.
Robert Morris had one last run, trimming its deficit 71-65 with 2:09 to play thanks to a 14-1 run surge that featured seven points from freshman forward Lucky Jones (Newark, N.J. / St. Anthony), including a four-point play thanks to a three-pointer and subsequent foul by Kenneth Ortiz of the Seahawks.
Wagner regrouped and sealed the win at the free-throw line, scoring its last 10 points of the game at the stripe.
Overall the Seahawks finished 34-for-40 at the free-throw line, a success rate of 85 percent and the most free-throw attempts by an RMU opponent since Villanova also visited the charity stripe 40 times in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Herman finished 5-for-6 shooting from the floor and 1-for-1 at the free-throw line for his 11 points and also added two assists and two steals, while sophomore forward Mike McFadden (Newark, N.J. / Technology) contributed 10 points and a game-high six rebounds.
Robert Morris shot 42.9 percent (24-for-56) overall on the game but converted at a 52.3 percent clip after opening the game just 1-for-12. Wagner converted 48.8 percent (20-for-41) of its shots, including 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from deep.
The Colonials continue a three-game road swing Saturday, Feb. 4, with a 4:00 p.m. tip against Mount St. Mary's at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg, Md.
