Staten Island, N.Y. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team wrapped up its 2015-16 regular season Saturday with a 62-54 setback to Wagner at the Spiro Sports Center.
The Colonials dipped to 10-21 overall on the 2015-16 campaign with the setback, including 8-10 in the Northeast Conference, while the Seahawks improved to 20-9 overall and 13-5 in league play.
RMU earned the No. 8 seed in the 2016 Northeast Conference Tournament and will travel back to Staten Island, N.Y., to take on No. 1 seed Wagner Wednesday, March 2, in a 7:00 p.m. tip as part of quarterfinal action.
In a game of runs, after a slow start by both teams Robert Morris grabbed a 19-9 lead at the 8:02 mark of the first half thanks to a 12-3 surge. Freshman guard
Steven Whitley started the run with a jumper, while senior guard
Rodney Pryor contributed six points.
Wagner called timeout, and out of the break the Seahawks outscored the Colonials, 19-2, over the final 7:49 of the first half to grab a 28-21 advantage at halftime. Michael Carey was the main offensive force for Wagner, scoring 12 points.
In the first six minutes of the second half Wagner continued its run, grabbing its biggest lead of the contest, 44-26, with 13:53 remaining thanks to a 1-for-2 performance at the free-throw line from Japhet Kadji. Carey and Corey Henson each scored four points for the Seahawks during the salvo.
RMU was able to stem the tide by finally connecting from beyond the arc, as back-to-back triples from freshman guard
Isaiah Still and a pair of free throws from Whitley trimmed the deficit for the Colonials to 44-34 with 9:54 to play.
Carey gave Wagner a 46-34 edge with a layup off an offensive rebound, but back-to-back three-pointers from freshman guard
Matty McConnell and a layup from Still trimmed the deficit for Robert Morris to 48-42.
The Seahawks answered with layups from Carey and Dwuan Anderson to push their lead back to double digits, 52-42, but a jumper by junior guard
Kavon Stewart and a layup off a steal on an in-bounds pass by McConnell again made it a two-possession contest with 5:19 to go.
RMU eventually trimmed its deficit to 54-49 thanks to a pair of free throws from Stewart with 2:42 left, and McConnell came up with another steal to give the Colonials possession. However, Stewart turned the ball over on a travel with 2:17 remaining, and Carey helped clinch the win for the Seahawks with a three-point play thanks to a layup and free throw after a foul by Pryor at the 1:48 mark of the second half.
"We get up 10 in the first half and we talked about continuing to do what we did to build the lead," head coach
Andrew Toole. "Instead, we just tried to do too much. We turned the ball over too many times, and we didn't rebound the basketball. You learn hard lessons that way. Hopefully we have an opportunity to build some toughness before we come back here Wednesday."
Still paced the Colonials with 15 points off the bench and also added four rebounds and three steals. Pryor notched his eighth double-double of the season with 14 and 11 rebounds and also added two blocks and a steal.
Carey was the only player in double figures for Wagner, scoring 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field while going 3-for-5 at the free-throw line. He also grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds, blocked three shots and registered a pair of assists and steals.
Notes: Wagner swept the season series from Robert Morris for the first time since 2002-03 … Freshman guard
Matty McConnell finished with eight points, five rebounds and four steals … In 18 league games, McConnell finished with 43 steals, an average of 2.39 per game that paced the circuit … McConnell also leads the NEC overall in steals with an average of 1.93 per contest … RMU was outrebounded, 43-31, including 14-9 on the offensive glass … Wagner held a 20-10 edge in second-chance points … Robert Morris converted just 58.3 percent (14-for-24) of its attempts at the free-throw line.
