Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team continued a three-game road trip Wednesday by dropping an 81-70 decision to Youngstown State at the Beeghly Center.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Senior forward
Yannis Mendy opened the scoring in the second half with a layup on a nice feed from guard
Dante Treacy to pull the Colonials to within 39-35, but the Penguins (5-4) hung a 12-5 run on RMU to grab their first double-digit advantage of the contest, 51-40, with 14:57 to play. Youngstown State had its biggest lead with 5:42 remaining, as a layup from Jelani Simmons gave the Penguins a 69-53 edge.
QUOTABLE
"It's so frustrating having to play catch up," Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "I don't know how you start a game giving up two wide open three-point looks because we fell asleep. It all comes down to our ability to get stops. We can't get stops right now. You have to be able to make opponents miss shots. We just haven't been able to sit down and get the stops we need to get."
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Sophomore guard
Jalen Hawkins continues to give Robert Morris a spark off the bench, as he continued his solid play at Youngstown State. He led the Colonials with a career-high 17 points while also grabbing a career-high seven rebounds. He knocked down eight of his 14 attempts from the field, including 1-for-2 from beyond the arc. Over the last five games, Hawkins is averaging 11.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 49 percent (25-for-51) from the field.
QUOTABLE
"We're not getting consistent, reliable play from virtually anybody," Toole said. "One time it's a breakdown from this guy then the next time it's another guy. I know the guys are frustrated, but we have to be able to stop people. We can't do it for 20 or 25 minutes. We have to do it for a full 40 minutes."
300
Junior guard
Jon Williams dished out four assists against the Penguins, pushing his career total for dimes to an even 300. Williams is the 15th student-athlete in program history to reach the 300-assist plateau, and over his 78 career games has averaged 3.85 assists per game.
MORE BENCH SPARK
In addition to the performance from Hawkins, senior guard
Sayveon McEwen has begun to carve out a role in the rotation for the Colonials. Against the Penguins he notched his third double-figure scoring effort in the last four games by tying a career high with 13 points. McEwen dished out a pair of assists and grabbed four rebounds and is shooting an even 40 percent (10-for-25) from beyond the arc on the 2019-20 season.
START ME UP
Junior forward
Charles Bain earned his first start of the 2019-20 campaign against the Penguins, scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds. He shot 3-for-9 from the field, including 1-for-5 from beyond the arc.
UP NEXT
RMU concludes a three-game road trip Saturday, Dec. 7, with a 7:00 p.m. tip in Fort Myers, Fla., against Florida Gulf Coast.
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