Photo Credit: Justin Berl
Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday with an 89-71 victory over Bryant at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The Colonials improved to 7-18 overall and 5-7 in the Northeast Conference with the win, while the Bulldogs slipped to 7-18 overall and 4-8 in league play.
RMU put forth its best offensive performance of the season, shooting a season-high 55 percent (33-for-60) from the field, including 64 percent (16-for-25) in the first half.
The Bulldogs jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 11-4 in the opening four minutes of action and also owned a 13-8 advantage with 14:52 to go in the first half thanks to a layup off an offensive rebound from Marcel Pettway.
Robert Morris followed by putting together a 21-7 run that opened up a 29-20 lead with 7:26 left before the break. It was a balanced attack, as freshman guard
Isaiah Still scored seven points, junior forward
Billy Giles supplied four points and junior guard
Kavon Stewart capped it with an old-fashion three-point play.
Bryant got back into the game thanks to the three-pointer, as Nisre Zouzoua and Hunter Ware each connected from deep to help pull the Bulldogs to within 34-31 at the 4:28 mark of the first half. RMU weather the surge, pushing its advantage to 44-33 with a 10-2 run that featured six points from senior guard
Rodney Pryor, including a thunderous dunk.
Early in the second half Pettway would score in the paint to trim RMU's lead to 44-39, but a 14-2 run that featured six points from Giles and four points from Still helped the Colonials open up a 58-41 cushion. Bryant was unable to get its deficit into single digits the rest of the game.
"A really good performance from start to finish," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "We shared the ball the entire game. We had more ball movement and penetration today, and that led to high percentage shots that we were able to convert. For some reason our guys were in a focused place, which was good to see. Offensively, defensively, in timeouts. We still have a lot of work to do as a team, but tonight was a good start."
Giles led Robert Morris with a career-high 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his second career double-double and posted a pair of steals. Still also eclipsed the 20-point threshold, finishing with 22 points. He shot 6-for-12 from the field, including 2-for-6 from beyond the arc, and was 8-for-11 at the free-throw line.
Pryor also recorded a double-double for the Colonials, his team-high fifth of the year, with 14 points and 11 boards.
Zouzoua led Bryant with 17 points, while Curtis Oakley scored 16 points off the bench. Pettway finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
RMU concludes a three-game homestand Thursday, Feb. 11, with a 5:00 p.m. tip against Saint Francis U. in a game that will be televised live on ESPNU.
Notes: Robert Morris started 0-for-4 at the free-throw line but finished by making 19 of its next 25 … The Colonials shot 64 percent from the field in the first half, the fourth time RMU has shot 60 percent or better in a half in 2015-16 … Robert Morris posted a rebounding margin of +15, its largest since finishing with a +16 margin against Mississippi Valley State (11/28/15) … Two players recorded a double-double for the second time in nine home games this year … Giles is shooting 61.3 percent (27-for-44) from the field over his last five games … Pryor's double-double was the sixth of his career and he is 61 points shy of 1,000 points for his career … Still reached double figures in scoring for the fourth consecutive game and is averaging 19.0 points per contest over that span … Robert Morris finished with six dunks in the contest, including five from Giles.
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