Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team completed a two-game series with Northern Kentucky at the UPMC Events Center Saturday, falling in overtime, 79-74. In dropping their fourth consecutive game, the Colonials dipped to 3-7 (.300) overall, including 2-5 (.286) in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
NKU (7-8 / 5-5) tied the game, 66-66, with 4.7 seconds left in regulation on a driving layup from Bryson Langdon on a feed from Adrian Nelson. RMU had its chances down the stretch, but in the final 1:06 of the second half the Colonials went just 2-for-6 at the free-throw line. Leading, 65-64, after junior forward
Kahliel Spear went 1-for-2 at the stripe, freshman guard
Trayden Williams picked the pocket of Marques Warrick with 14.6 seconds remaining. Williams was immediately fouled and went 1-for-2 at the line, setting up the final basket of regulation from Langdon.
QUOTABLE
"We struggle with some of the details," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole. "When we don't stay locked in on the details, bad things happen for us. We got off to a great start, and some of that came from making shots. The second half was back-and-forth the entire time, but we weren't able to finish it off the way we needed to."
START ME UP
The Colonials hit their first eight shots from the field Saturday against the Norse en route to a shooting percentage of 62.5 percent (15-for-24) in the first 20 minutes of action. RMU grabbed its biggest lead, 24-7, barely seven minutes into the contest after a three-pointer from senior forward
Charles Bain. It was a balanced attack offensively in the opening spurt, with Bain leading the way with seven points and freshman guard
Kam Farris knocking down a pair of three-pointers. Bain finished with a season-high 12 points as one of five Colonials to score in double figures and also added two rebounds and three steals.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior forward AJ Bramah registered his fourth double-double in the last five games, leading the way for the Colonials with 19 points and 10 rebounds. He also finished with three assists as RMU registered 16 assists on its 25 field goals. Bramah moved into a tie with the program's all-time leading scorer, Myron Walker (1990-94), for seventh in program history for career double-doubles with 12.
FREE BASKETBALL
Trevon Faulkner opened the scoring in overtime for Northern Kentucky by draining a three-pointer at the four-minute mark to give the Norse a 69-66 advantage. He added a pair of free throws with 3:28 to play, part of a perfect 10-for-10 performance at the chalk for Faulkner, to push the lead to 71-66. RMU didn't score in the extra frame until Bramah hit the back end of a pair of free throws at 1:26, and the first field goal of overtime for the Colonials didn't come until Bain was true in the paint with 36 seconds left that trimmed their deficit 75-69. It marked the first loss in overtime at home under Toole, as RMU had won its previous six contests on its home court when heading to the extra five minutes.
QUOTABLE
"If you're a true competitor and we haven't been able to win over two weekends, if you're not ready to come to practice Monday and compete like crazy, we have a whole other set of issues," Toole said. "We have to worry about us and worry about preparing ourselves. We have a lot of work in front of us, but a lot of it comes down to being able to follow our formula and play with the adequate detail and energy that it takes to win games."
UP NEXT
RMU closes out the month of January with a two-game set against Wright State at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio, Friday, Jan. 29, and Saturday, Jan. 30. The opening contest of the series tips at 9:00 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPNU.
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