Albany, N.Y. – A late charge by the
Robert Morris University men's basketball team fell short as Siena slipped by the Colonials, 76-74, Saturday at the Times Union Center to snap RMU's four-game winning streak.
RMU, which concluded an eight-game road trip to open the 2017-18 campaign with a 4-4 record, almost erased a 16-point deficit in the second half to earn its fifth consecutive victory.
Prince Oduro gave the Saints a 48-32 cushion at the 14:11 mark of the second half with a tip-in, but the Colonials began to chip away, using a 12-0 run to pull to within 48-44 with 10:42 to play. The three-pointer was the main offensive weapon, as freshman guard
Jon Williams, sophomore guard
Dachon Burke and freshman forward
Chris Coalmon each connected from beyond the arc. Burke added a three-point play during the surge with a driving layup and free-throw after a foul by Siena's Roman Penn.
The Saints stemmed the tide courtesy of Nico Clareth. He drained a deep three-pointer to push the Siena lead to 51-44, and after Burke missed a jumper, Clareth hit another triple from the exact same spot to again give the Saints a double-digit advantage, 54-44.
"Give Nico Clareth credit," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "Those two shots were back breakers. We cut it to four and he goes and make those two tough shots. We rallied behind the zone, but we needed more effort from guys from the tip."
The lead swelled to 58-44 for Siena after a jumper from Oduro with 7:04 to go, but Robert Morris didn't go away. Junior guard
Matty McConnell and Williams each hit three-pointers to trim the deficit for the Colonials to 62-54 with three minutes remaining, and a 1-for-2 performance at the free-throw line from Burke at the 2:20 mark made it 62-55.
The last two minutes featured a flurry of activity, with Siena keeping RMU at bay by converting at the free-throw line. The Saints finished 12-for-13 at the chalk in the final 1:52 of action.
LINKS: Boxscore (PDF) | 2017-18 Schedule | 2017-18 Fact Book
Robert Morris stayed close with the long ball, as Williams again hit from deep, while Burke hit a pair of triples in the final 10 seconds to settle the final score at a one-possession game.
"We didn't have enough guys tonight that were ready to go," Toole said. "We had some guys that were active and engaged in the second half, and they did their best to try and chip away at the 16-point deficit we put ourselves in, but we just didn't have enough that were ready to go out and fight and battle."
Burke again paced the Colonials, establishing a career high in points for the second consecutive game with 26. He shot 9-of-19 from the field, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, and also added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Williams scored a career-high 15 points on a 5-for-7 performance from beyond the arc while also dishing out five assists, and junior forward
Malik Petteway notched his third double-double of the year with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Siena was led by Clareth, who scored 20 points. Ahsante Shivers finished with 16 points, Penn added 14 points and nine boards and Oduro contributed 14 points and seven caroms.
An eight-game road trip in the books, RMU hosts its first game at PPG Paints Arena for the 2017-18 campaign Wednesday, Dec. 6, with a 7:00 p.m. tip against Rider. The Colonials won both of their contests at the venue last season.
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