Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team opened play in the 2019 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Tuesday with a 98-89 overtime victory over Cornell at the North Athletic Complex. The Colonials secured a winning season for the second time this season by improving to 18-16 overall with the win.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Senior guard
Matty McConnell connected for three-pointers on three consecutive possessions in the extra frame to give RMU a 93-84 lead with 2:20 left in overtime. McConnell finished with a career-high 27 points after scoring 11 of the 16 points in overtime for Robert Morris. He shot 9-for-19 from the field, including 5-for-9 from beyond the arc, and went 4-for-6 at the free-throw line.
QUOTABLE
"A wild game," head coach
Andrew Toole said. "Not a lot of defense by either team, but we were able to get a few stops when we switched to the zone. Incredible efforts by Josh and Matty and Jon. Those guys really kept us afloat and willed us to the victory. I thought down the stretch our guys got energized, and that was great to see. Sometimes that's what you need to get over the hump."
HOW WE GOT TO OT
Senior guard
Josh Williams, who finished with a game-high 36 points, went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line with 18.8 seconds left in the second half to give the Colonials an 82-80 lead. Matt Morgan answered on the next possession for Cornell (15-16), driving into the lane and pulling up and connecting on a soft jumper to tie it, 82-82. RMU had two opportunities in the final eight seconds to win it, but a three-pointer from Williams was strong and sophomore forward
Charles Bain missed a floater in the paint off the miss by Williams.
RELATED: 2019 CIT Schedule
CARDIAC COLONIALS (AGAIN)
Robert Morris fell behind by double digits for the 10th time in the last 13 games and has erased eight of those deficits. Cornell (15-16) owned a 24-12 advantage at the 10:42 mark of the first half and also led, 62-51, with 12:07 remaining in regulation. The Colonials answered with a 16-5 run to grab their first lead of the contest, 67-66, with 6:53 to go after sophomore guard
Jon Williams picked the pocket of Steve Julian and took it coast-to-coast for a layup. That set up a back-and-forth affair which featured four ties and five lead changes in the second half.
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"As the game goes on, I get a better feel of how teams are trying to guard me and how they're guarding us as a whole," senior guard
Josh Williams said. "You try to find cracks. It was mainly about being aggressive. I took a few tough ones to try and get the energy up, but once I hit a couple open ones you start feeling good."
BEEN AWHILE
Three Colonials eclipsed the 20-point plateau in the win, marking the first the feat has been accomplished in 416 games.
Josh Williams scored a game-high 36 points, McConnell added 27 and sophomore guard
Jon Williams contributed a career-high 20 points. The trio combined to shoot 15-for-30 (50%) from beyond the arc. The last trio to score at least 20 points in a game was Jan. 23, 2007, when former Colonials A.J. Jackson (28), Tony Lee (23) and Derek Coleman (20) turned the trick in a 94-75 victory @ Saint Francis U.
HOW ABOUT THAT
The performances by
Josh Williams,
Matty McConnell and
Jon Williams were joined by a pair from the Big Red, as Jimmy Boeheim scored 31 points to lead Cornell. Morgan added 24 points, as the duo combined to convert 22 of their 33 shots (66.7%) from the field, including 6-for-13 (46.2%) from deep.
JUST A PAIR
Thanks to five three-pointers, McConnell pushed his career total for triples to 202. He joins former guard Jeremy Chappell (2005-09) as the only players in school history to accumulate career totals of at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists, 200 steals and 200 three-pointers. McConnell enters the second round of the 2019 CIT with career totals of 1,146 points, 517 rebounds, 301 assists, 237 steals and 202 three-pointers.
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"The 20 turnovers was huge for us," Toole said. "A lot of that was just based off activity. That's what we kept talking about in timeouts. Could we get a deflection or do something that can help us an opportunity to get a stop, because when they were shooting it they weren't missing very often."
UP NEXT
RMU will wait to learn its next opponent, as first round games in the 2019 CIT are played the rest of the week and conclude Saturday, March 23.
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