Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team opened a three-game homestand at the North Athletic Complex Thursday with a 72-64 win over Sacred Heart. In earning their third consecutive victory, as well as seven of their last eight, the Colonials improved to 11-9 overall and 6-1 in the Northeast Conference.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Senior guard
Matty McConnell scored a season-high 19 points to lead RMU in the win over the Pioneers, and he knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the in the first two and-a-half minutes as the Colonials jumped out to a 16-4 advantage with less than five minutes gone in the contest. McConnell's third triple of the first half came with 8:49 to go and gave Robert Morris a 24-13 edge.
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"I saw a couple go in early, and that really opened up the driving lane for me," McConnell said. "Knocking those first two down was a real confidence booster."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Pioneers (8-12 / 4-3 NEC) used a quick 7-0 spurt to close to within 30-27 with 2:30 left in the first half, but the Colonials got a layup from junior forward
Yannis Mendy and a jumper in the paint from McConnell to grab a 34-27 lead less than a minute later. Robert Morris eventually entered halftime with a six-point lead, 35-29, and pushed its advantage back to double digits, 45-35, at the 16:22 mark of the second half after a pair of free throws from McConnell.
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"A really good all-around effort from us, both offensively and defensively," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "We did a really good job of controlling the tempo and making them play our game for all 40 minutes. They have a number of guys that can shoot it, and we try to take away the ability for the catch and shoot three with everybody. College basketball is three happy, so if you can make people miss from the three-point line, it can dramatically help your defense and help your ability to win games."
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS
Sean Hoehn knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:07 left that helped Sacred Heart trim its deficit to 60-53, but McConnell came up huge, driving into the lane for a layup and drawing a foul from Zach Radz. He knocked down the free throw with 1:53 remaining that gave the Colonials a 63-53 advantage.
THREE'S COMPANY
Sacred Heart finished 3-for-14 (21.4%) from beyond the arc in the contest, while Robert Morris knocked down eight of its 21 (38.1%) of its opportunities. In addition to a 3-for-5 performance from McConnell, sophomore
Charles Bain also went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc en route to a 17-point performance. Bain's triple with 8:33 left kept the advantage for RMU in double digits, 55-43. Also scoring in double figures for the Colonials was senior guard
Josh Williams, who finished with 10 points.
INCHING CLOSER
McConnell pushed his career point total 973 in his quest to become the 25th student-athlete to join the RMU 1,000-Point Club. He is 27 points shy and also ranks seventh all-time at Robert Morris for career steals (212) and 10th in three-point field goals (179). Against the Pioneers, McConnell also contributed six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
CREATING & CREATING
Sophomore guard
Jon Williams dished out a career-high 10 assists in the win over Sacred Heart and also finished with four rebounds and a steal. It marks the first double-digit assist game for Williams in his career, and the Colonials improved to 6-1 (.857) when Williams dishes out at least seven assists in a contest.
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"We always need to be urgent on defense," Williams said. "As long we get stops we'll be fine. We ran the offense with pace and purpose. We just try to focus on getting stops first and then running our actions on offense."
UP NEXT
Robert Morris continues a three-game homestand Saturday, Jan. 26, with a 5:00 p.m. tip against Wagner at the North Athletic Complex.
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