Lewisburg, Pa. - Nearly one year to the day after pulling an upset of No. 17 Bucknell, the Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team was unable to duplicate the feat in 2012 as the Colonials dropped a 17-10 decision to the nationally-ranked Bison in non-conference action Tuesday evening at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium.

The Colonials, who were playing away from home for the seventh time in eight games, posted advantages in ground balls, faceoffs won and clear percentage but could not match the Bison on the scoreboard.

In spite of the defeat, redshirt junior Dave Morton (Orangeville, Ontario / Hill School) had a career night for RMU as he led the squad with career bests of four goals and five points. Morton, who is riding a career-high seven-game point streak, notched the third hat trick of his career and first since 2009. His first multi-goal game of 2012 doubled as his seventh career multi-point game.

Senior Kiel Matisz (Stoney Creek, Ontario / Saltfleet) netted a trio of scores for Robert Morris to notch the 12th hat trick of his career. In the process, he collected the 34th multi-point game and 20th multi-goal game of his career while tallying at least three points for the 11th time in his last 13 outings. Matisz entered the week ranked seventh nationally in goals per game with 3.0 and exactly matched his season average against Bucknell.

Senior Kyle Buchanan (Nepean, Ontario / John McCrae) had a goal and an assist for RMU and continued to climb the charts in the career record book. Buchanan's helper made him just the second Colonial ever to reach 60 career assists while his score moved him into sole possession of seventh place in all-time goals at Robert Morris. Buchanan notched his 29th career multi-point game and now has nine such efforts in his last 11 outings.

Senior midfielder Mike Grosz (St. Louis, Mo. / Parkway West) posted a game-high 11 ground balls for the Colonials to record double-figure ground balls for the fifth time in his RMU career, a school record, and for the second time in his last four games.

Bucknell, which won its fifth-consecutive game Tuesday, opened the contest on fire as the Bison collected seven of the game's first eight goals over the opening 19 minutes of play. RMU began to settle in near the midpoint of the second quarter but it still trailed by five, 9-4, at the break.

The Colonials were able to cut the deficit to four on two occasions in the second half, but RMU could not get a sustained run going as the Bison would counter any Colonial comeback attempt. With the hosts leading by four early in the fourth quarter, the Bison scored five straight times to remove nearly all remaining doubt regarding the outcome.

Senior Casey Abbott (San Jose, Calif. / Bellarmine Prep.) tallied a pair of goals to claim his seventh career multi-point game and his second-career multi-goal effort as he hit 20 goals for his career.

Junior Jake Hayes (Calgary, Alberta / Central Memorial) registered a fourth-quarter assist to collect the 50th point of his career as he moved one step closer to the top 10 in career points.

RMU will now have a week off before it resumes action next Tuesday, March 27, as the Colonials host Canisius to continue the most-played non-conference series in program history. The opening faceoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will mark the first-ever RMU lacrosse game at night in Joe Walton Stadium history.