Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team opened its 2022-23 season Saturday with an 88-59 exhibition victory over Alliance, the college formerly known as Nyack, at the UPMC Events Center.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Colonials knocked down each of their first four shots from the field in garnering an early 10-3 advantage and never trailed in the contest. Junior guard
Enoch Cheeks connected from beyond the arc at the 16:09 mark of the first half to give RMU its first double-digit advantage, 16-6, as the Colonials shot 61.3 percent (19-for-31) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of action in grabbing a 49-25 lead at halftime.
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"It's always good to play games like this," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole. "It's a dress rehearsal where you get some of the butterflies and unsureness out. There were stretches where we did some really good things and there were some stretches where we didn't play with the urgency that you need in order to extend the lead. The hope of the game is to be able to figure out some areas of weakness and some areas we need to improve. Alliance competed for all 40 minutes, so now we have to get back to work and try to improve on certain areas to continue to get better."
DISTRIBUTING
Six different Colonials handed out at least two assists in the victory over the Warriors, including a game-high seven from senior guard
Michael Green III. As a team, RMU posted 25 assists and took advantage of 23 turnovers by Alliance, registering 13 steals. The Colonials also outrebounded the Warriors, 36-23.
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"You love the 25 assists," Toole said. "The idea is that you want almost a position-less type of player that can do a bunch of different things on the floor. We've shown the ability to move the ball well all preseason long, and there were times during the course of the game that the ball did not move as well. Those were the possessions where maybe we didn't get as good of a look. We'll go back and show some of the good and some of the bad and continue and try and tighten things up on the offensive side."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Junior guard
Josh Corbin led all scorers in the contest with 27 points and was one of three Colonials to score in double figures, as fifth-year forward
Kahliel Spear added 16 and Cheeks 12. Freshman forward
Stephaun Walker grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
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"His teammates are looking for him at all times, and Josh is always ready," Toole said. "He has such a quick release, and what I think is important is that he brings great competitiveness to our team. We have to keep everybody getting better and keep everyone improving and figure out ways to get him open."
UP NEXT
RMU will open its 2022-23 regular season Monday, Nov. 9, with a 7:00 p.m. tip against Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, at the Schottenstein Center.
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