Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team opened a three-game road trip Saturday, falling at Davidson, 88-70. The Colonials slipped to 0-5 on the 2021-22 season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Trailing, 23-18, at the 9:44 mark of the first half, RMU used an 11-4 spurt to grab a 29-27 edge after a jumper from sophomore forward
Justin Winston. Winston scored seven points during the run, while senior forward
Kahliel Spear contributed four points. The Colonials had a couple opportunities to extend their advantage, but Foster Loyer ended an 0-for-5 shooting drought for Davidson by connecting from beyond the arc to put the Wildcats back on top, 30-29. That bolstered a 6-2 surge in the final 3:32 of the first half that gave Davidson (4-2) a 35-31 cushion at halftime.
FIRE STARTER
The Wildcats found their range in the second half, hitting seven of their first eight shots from the field and 12-of-14 to open the stanza in grabbing a 65-45 lead with less than eight minutes gone after the break. Davidson shot 66.7 percent (20-for-30) from the field in the second half, with guards Michael Jones (13) and Hyunjung Lee (10) combining for 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including a 5-for-8 performance from beyond the arc. Lee ended up garnering game-high honors in scoring with 23 points, while Jones chipped in 15.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we did a really good job in the first half of not allowing them to get catch-and-shoot three's, but we weren't able to do that in the second half," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "We can't string enough stops together or when we need them in order to win. We have to figure out a way to teach the defensive concepts and then transfer that to the court. Too many decisions are coming back to haunt us. Good teams like Davidson, and good teams in the Horizon League, they're going to make you pay for those mistakes."
UNSELFISHNESS
Spreading the ball around, Davidson registered 21 assists on its 35 field goals in the contest, with six different Wildcats posting at least two dimes and eight posting at least one assist overall. RMU dished out 15 assists on its 27 field goals, with guards
Rasheem Dunn,
Enoch Cheeks and
Kam Farris, who was making his 2021-22 season debut Saturday, each handing out three dimes.
THE DEBUTS
Farris played 29 minutes in his first game of the 2021-22 season and in addition to his three assists scored 11 points off the bench for the Colonials. He finished 4-for-6 shooting, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Saturday also marked the debuts of forwards
Brandon Stone and
Tristian Jeffries, with Stone supplying seven points, a rebound and a block in 10 minutes and Jeffries notching a rebound and a steal in three minutes of action. Spear led RMU against Davidson with another all-around performance, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds while registering two assists, a steal and a block.
QUOTABLE
"Getting a consistent rotation has been a little bit of a challenge," Toole said. "We give everybody equal opportunity in practice. There were some good plays by Brandon and some really good plays by Kam. We coach the guys that are on the court. Availability is a skill. For the majority of the game we had good effort, but we need to check all those boxes and play a full 40 minutes in order to be successful. We have a lot to get better at, and I'm looking forward to a week of practice before we open Horizon League play."
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Senior forward
Jaron Williams earned his first start as a member of the Colonials Saturday against Davidson, finishing with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists. He knocked down six of his 10 shots from the floor against the Wildcats and over his last three games is shooting 66.7 percent (18-for-27) from the field. Overall on the young 2021-22 campaign, Williams is supplying the Colonials with averages of 10.2 points and 3.8 rebounds while converting 56.4 percent (22-for-39) of his shots from the field.
UP NEXT
RMU continues its three-game road trip by opening the month of December with a pair of Horizon League games. The Colonials will face Green Bay for the first time in program history Thursday, Dec. 2, in an 8:00 p.m. tip before concluding the swing Saturday, Dec. 4, at Milwaukee.
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