Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University men's basketball team opened a four-game homestand Thursday by stretching its winning streak to three with a 78-52 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn at Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Redshirt senior guard
Josh Williams scored the first eight points of the contest, including a layup and a pair of three-pointers, to give the Colonials an 8-0 lead just two and-a-half minutes into the contest. The Terriers called a timeout, and RMU (7-9 / 3-0 NEC) never trailed in the contest. Williams scored 14 points in the first half, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, while also grabbing three rebounds.
QUOTABLE
"As a whole team everybody contributed in different ways," Williams said. "Whether it was rebounding, assists and even things that don't get tallied, like setting good screens, everybody was doing the little things to win."
PUSHING IT
St. Francis Brooklyn (7-7 / 1-1 NEC) closed its deficit to 14-12 at the 10:04 mark of the first half after a runner in the lane from Rob Higgins, who tied for team-high honors for the Terriers with 11 points. RMU responded with a 10-2 surge to grab its first double-digit lead, 24-14. Sophomore guard
Dante Treacy knocked down a three-pointer to open the run, while Williams capped it with a three-pointer. Robert Morris owned a pair of 11-point advantages in the final 6:21 of the first half before settling for a 39-30 lead at halftime.
ACTIVE ACTIVE ACTIVE
Junior forward
AJ Bramah contributed nine points, two rebounds and three assists in the first half for the Colonials and tied a career high with 16 points in the victory. He shot 6-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 at the free-throw line while grabbing five rebounds. Bramah has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive contests, the longest active streak for the Colonials. He teamed with
Yannis Mendy for a potent inside duo against the Terriers, as the senior forward contributed 13 points in the win, also on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.
CONVERTING
Robert Morris shot 54.2 percent (32-for-59) from the field in the victory, including 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from beyond the arc. The Colonials are 3-0 this season as well as 48-6 (.889) in 10 seasons under RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole when converting at least 50 percent of their shots. Robert Morris has also hit at least five three-pointers in each of its 16 games this season, extending its streak turning the trick to 27 dating back to last year.
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"I thought we came out with really good energy," Toole said. "I like how we defended for the majority of the second half. When you play a team like St. Francis Brooklyn, in the way that they defend they try to disrupt and deny all over the floor. You really have to go to score. We really talked about attacking to score, and I think our forwards did a really good job finding each other. When you have guys that are playing the forward position that are creating some of those scoring opportunities, it makes it even harder to guard."
NUMBER 175
Toole became RMU's all-time leader in victories last season in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., when the Colonials picked up a
52-49 win over the Terriers. A day short of exactly one year later, Toole notched career win number 175 with RMU's win over St. Francis Brooklyn. Toole owns an overall record of 175-149 (.540) in 10 seasons on the sidelines at Robert Morris, including a mark of 105-58 (.644) against Northeast Conference foes.
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"I think people know and respect the program," Toole said. "They've seen some of the success that we've had and some of the big wins that we've been fortunate enough to have. I think a lot of people are aware of the facility that we've just built, and those are all points of conversation. There still is a lot of stuff that we want to accomplish here. It's been a lot of hard work from a lot of players and coaches that have done a great job to propel the program in a positive direction."
FIVE HORIZONS
Williams scored a game-high 20 points, shooting 7-for-9 from the floor, including 6-for-8 from deep. He has knocked down at least five three-pointers in four of his last five games and during that stretch has shot has shot 59.5 percent (25-for-42) from beyond the arc. Williams stretched his streak for consecutive double-figure scoring games to six against the Terriers, as he is averaging 19.0 points per contest during that span.
UP NEXT
RMU continues its homestand when it welcomes Wagner to UPMC Events Center Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tip. The Colonials will also host Merrimack (Jan. 18) and Sacred Heat (Jan. 20) to close out four consecutive games on Peoples Court.
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