Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team continued a five-game road trip Saturday by returning to action in the Battle 4 Atlantis, dropping an 80-66 decision to Georgetown at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
The Colonials slipped to 1-2 on their current road swing and 1-3 overall on the 2014-15 campaign, while the Hoyas improved to 3-0.
Georgetown quickly jumped out to a 12-4 advantage on the strength of a pair of three-pointers from Jabril Trawick, but RMU used a 10-6 spurt to close to within 15-14 at the 11:27 mark of the first half. It was a balanced attack offensively for the Colonials, as freshman guard
Marcquise Reed and junior guard
Rodney Pryor each hit three-pointers, while sophomore guard
Kavon Stewart hit a jumper and junior forward
Lionel Gomis converted a pair at the free-throw line.
Pryor's three-pointer to cap the run, however, would be the last field goal for Robert Morris until freshman forward
Elijah Minnie converted a layup with 3:11 left before halftime. In between, the Hoyas opened up a 29-18 lead.
Georgetown eventually entered the break ahead, 36-24, and bolstered its lead in the second half behind the play of Joshua Smith, who led all scorers in the game with 22 points while also grabbing a game-high 11 boards. Smith scored 15 points in the second half and finished the afternoon 9-for-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-7 at the charity stripe.
"The size and strength was something that wore on us throughout the course of the game," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "I thought we did a decent job of flooding the paint early in the game, and then they were able to make some three's. We dug ourselves a hole at the half and then didn't come out with the proper energy in the second half."
The biggest lead for the Hoyas came with 9:37 remaining when Isaac Copeland converted a pair at the chalk to push Georgetown's cushion to 63-36.
Robert Morris used a late charge to close the gap, outscoring the Hoyas, 16-8, over the final 3:12 of action. Pryor paced the Colonials for the second consecutive game with 16 points off the bench, finishing 4-for-7 from the field, including 3-of-6 from deep, while going 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. He also added five rebounds and a pair of assists.
Senior forward
Lucky Jones contributed 13 points, nine rebounds and four steals for RMU, while Reed and Minnie each tallied nine points. Reed dished out four assists, while Minnie posted a pair of blocks.
Robert Morris closes out its five-game road swing as well as the Battle 4 Atlantis with a pair of games next week in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Colonials will take on the host Mocs Wednesday, Nov. 26, in a Noon tip and will face either Coastal Carolina or Louisiana-Monroe Thursday, Nov. 27, at a time to be determined.
Stat of the Night: In each of the first four games of the 2014-15 campaign RMU's bench has outscored its opponent, averaging 33.0 points per contest compared to 22.8, a margin of +10.2.
Tweet of the Night:
