Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team opened its 2016-17 campaign Friday with a 67-50 setback to Penn at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
In the season opener for both teams, the Quakers were led by AJ Brodeur and Matt Howard, as the duo each recorded a double-double. Brodeur finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Howard contributed 15 points and 10 boards.
The Quakers grabbed a 13-2 advantage in the first eight minutes of the contest as Brodeur supplied six points, three rebounds and a block in the opening salvo. Freshman center
Braden Burke scored the first basket of the contest for the Colonials with a layup at the 18:27 mark of the first half, but RMU missed its next 11 shots from the field.
"Obviously we really struggled to score," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "I thought we came out with good energy and tried to compete, but when shots didn't go in the basket, our energy level dropped. There were times out there where we look disorganized. We have a long way to go to become a good team, and this is something we have to learn from and improve on for Sunday."
Senior forward
Aaron Tate snapped the drought for Robert Morris with 11:22 left in the first half with a tip-in, but Penn surged to its biggest lead of the first half, 23-6, after a fastbreak layup courtesy of Jake Silpe.
RMU settled in offensively and was able to use a 14-6 run to close out the first half to trim its deficit to 29-20 at the break. Still scored seven points for the Colonials, while a three-pointer from sophomore guard
Matty McConnell with 31 seconds left before intermission helped get the deficit into single digits for Robert Morris.
Burke would open the scoring in the second half with a layup off a feed from senior guard
Kavon Stewart to pull the Colonials to within 29-22, but Penn grabbed control with an 24-9 run that opened up a 60-35 cushion with 6:04 to play. Howard began the charge with a three-pointer and scored seven points, while Max Rothschild led the way during the run with eight points.
"We need to organize a little bit better," sophomore guard
Isaiah Still. "As a team, we need to communicate and organize. There was a lot of new guys playing their first Division I basketball game. One guy might not be on the same page as another. We got down on ourselves and didn't pick ourselves back up."
The Quakers finished the game shooting 47.3 percent (26-for-55) from the field as Brodeur and Howard combined to convert 16 of their 24 shots (66.7%). RMU hit just 25 percent (8-for-32) of its attempts in the first half and 29.3 percent (17-for-58) overall.
Still paced the Colonials with 15 points and added six rebounds and a steal. In his first collegiate game, Burke contributed eight points on 4-of-8 shooting, while senior forward
Billy Giles added seven points and four rebounds off the bench.
Both Robert Morris and Penn finished with 44 rebounds, with Tate pacing RMU with eight caroms. Stewart tied a career high with seven boards, while junior forward
Roberto Mantovani finished with six rebounds to go along with six points.
Robert Morris takes to the road for its next six games, beginning Sunday, Nov. 13, with a 7:00 p.m. tip at DePaul.
Stat of the Night
4 – Number of true freshman to earn a start in their first collegiate game under seventh-year
Andrew Toole. Center
Braden Burke became the latest, joining Yann Charles (2010), Elijah Minnie (2014) and
Matty McConnell (2015).
Tweet of the Night
Follow The Colonials: Twitter | Instagram
