Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team concluded its 2016-17 regular season Saturday by notching its third consecutive victory with a 79-72 win over Sacred Heart in the program's final game at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
The Colonials (13-18, 9-9 NEC) claim the No. 7 seed in the 2017 Northeast Conference Tournament and will travel to No. 2 seed LIU Brooklyn Wednesday, March 1. Tip time against the Blackbirds is 9:00 p.m., and the game can be seen live on Fox College Sports and MSG+.
RMU announced
January 19, 2017, it will break ground in July on the UPMC Events Center, a 140,000-square foot complex for basketball and volleyball, which will play on Peoples Court. The facility is set to open in January of 2019, and in the meantime the Colonials will play their home games at PPG Paints Arena. In 32 seasons at the Sewall Center, Robert Morris posted a record of 278-149 (.651).
Sophomore guard
Isaiah Still led RMU against Sacred Heart (13-18, 8-10 NEC) by scoring 23 of his career-high 28 points in the second half. He shot 7-for-9 from the field, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc, while going 8-for-11 at the free-throw line.
In the first seven minutes of action the Colonials fell behind by double digits, 11-7, as the Pioneers opened the game 8-for-11 from the floor. Joseph Lopez scored six points, while Chris Robinson added five, including a three-pointer at the 13:16 mark.
De'von Barnett gave Sacred Heart a 27-20 lead with 7:47 left before halftime with a layup off an offensive rebound, but the Colonials used a 10-1 surge to grab a 30-28 edge. Still knocked down a three-pointer, while freshman guard
Dachon Burke canned a triple to push Robert Morris in front.
That set up a back-and-forth affair the rest of the half, with Matej Buovac giving the Pioneers a 36-35 edge at the break thanks to a three-pointer at the 1:06 mark of the first half.
The game featured six ties and 11 lead changes, with Sacred Heart owning a 52-49 advantage with 13:43 remaining after Quincy McKnight converted a three-point play thanks to a layup and foul by RMU freshman guard
Clive Allen.
Robert Morris stemmed the tide, using a 12-3 run that featured four points from Burke and three points each from Still and senior guard
Kavon Stewart to grab a 61-55 lead with 8:50 to go.
Sacred Heart closed to within 62-59 after a jumper from McKnight, but the Colonials took control with a 14-6 surge that opened up a 76-65 advantage with 1:37 to play and featured a trio of three-pointers from Still.
"I was really happy with our second-half effort, especially on the defensive side of the floor," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "We gave up way too many transition buckets to them early in the game, which allowed them to create their lead. They want to go up and down. In the second half we did a much better job defending and rebounding the basketball."
Joining Still in double figures for RMU was Burke, who chipped in a career-high 17 points to go along with four rebounds, an assist, block and steal. He shot 6-of-9 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from deep. Stewart contributed 15 points on the strength of an 8-for-11 performance at the free-throw line. He also dished out five assists.
Lopez paced the Pioneers with 16 points and 10 rebounds to record a double-double but was just 1-for-6 from the floor in the second half after posting 10 points and seven boards in the first half. McKnight also scored 16 points but finished 7-for-20 shooting, while Robinson added 14 off the bench.
The Pioneers shot 50 percent (15-for-30) from the field in the first half but converted just 36.1 percent (13-for-36) of their shots after the break.
Stat Of The Night
19.8 – Average number of points off turnovers Robert Morris scored in eight games during the month of February, a stretch in which the Colonials went 6-2 (.750).
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