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Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball stretched its winning streak to six Saturday with a 74-70 victory over Wagner at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
RMU crept over .500 with the win, improving to 11-10 overall, while beginning its Northeast Conference slate 6-0 for the first time in school history. Wagner dipped to 9-10 overall with the defeat, including 3-3 in league play.
Trailing, 33-31, at the break, the Seahawks opened the second half on a 14-5 run to open up their biggest advantage of the contest, 45-38, with 16:10 to play. Latif Rivers scored five points during the surge, while Kenneth Ortiz converted a three-point play.
Wagner owned a 47-40 lead with 14:06 to go before Robert Morris scored six straight points, including a three-point play from sophomore forward
Stephan Hawkins (Gary, Ind. / Bowman Academy) and a three-pointer from senior guard
Karvel Anderson (Elkhart, Ind. / Glen Oaks Community College).
The Seahawks called timeout to stem the tide, and out of the break Rivers connected from beyond the arc to push Wagner's lead to 50-46. Hawkins would hit a jumper on RMU's next possession, but Rivers stayed hot from outside, hitting another three-pointer to give the Seahawks a 53-48 cushion.
RMU responded with a 13-2 spurt to take its biggest lead of the contest, 61-55, with 7:36 to play. Igniting the surge with a three-pointer was junior guard
Charles Oliver (Scotch Plains, N.J. / Lakeland Community College), while senior guard
Anthony Myers-Pate (Washington, D.C. / Charis Prep) put the Colonials back on top, 54-53, with a three-pointer of his own.
Robert Morris held a 63-57 advantage with 6:58 remaining after freshman guard
Kavon Stewart (Paterson, N.J. / Hudson Catholic) converted a pair at the stripe, but five straight points from Mario Moody pulled Wagner to within 63-62.
Myers-Pate then came through with another triple to give RMU a 66-62 edge with 3:46 to go, and a Moody free throw at the 3:20 mark of the second half would be the only points the two teams scored for almost two minutes.
Anderson was sent to the stripe with 1:30 left and hit the front end of a pair to give the Colonials a 67-63 cushion, the beginning of a stretch in which Robert Morris would go 8-for-10 in at the free-throw line in the final minute and-a-half to seal the victory.
Anderson would again visit the chalk with 20 seconds to go and hit both to give RMU a 71-67 advantage, but Marcus Burton buried a three-pointer with 15.1 seconds remaining to pull the Seahawks within 71-70. Stewart was immediately fouled by Ortiz, and he sank both to make it 73-70 with 13.7 seconds to go.
Ortiz fired off an attempt from deep with eight ticks left on the second-half clock for the tie, but the shot was strong, with sophomore forward
Aaron Tate (New Bern, N.C. / Dodge City Community College) coming down with the rebound. Fouled immediately by Dwaun Anderson, Tate sank the back end of his two attempts to settle the final score.
Karvel Anderson led all scorers with 21 points for Robert Morris, converting seven of his 13 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, while going 3-for-4 at the free-throw line. He also added three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Myers-Pate finished with 12 points for the Colonials, while Jones and Stewart each added 10 points. Jones recorded eight rebounds, while Tate pulled down a career-high nine. Stewart, meanwhile, scored all 10 of his points at the chalk, finishing 10-for-12, while also tallying four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Wagner was led by Rivers, who scored 19 points. Moody supplied 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Naofall Folahan contributed 14 points, 12 rebounds and four rejections.
Robert Morris continues its four-game homestand Thursday, Jan. 30, with an 8:00 p.m. tip against Bryant at the Sewall Center in a game that will be televised live on ESPNU.
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