Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team dropped its third consecutive game Saturday, falling to Evansville, 54-53, at Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Ga., as part of the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic. The Colonials dipped to 2-4 (.333) overall during the 2022-23 season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Blaise Beauchamp connected from beyond the arc in the corner with 16.3 seconds to play that helped give the Purple Aces a 54-53 advantage. The Colonials called timeout, and out of the break senior guard
Michael Green III turned the ball over with a bad pass, forcing RMU to foul. Beauchamp was sent to the free-throw line with 4.4 ticks left on the clock, but he missed both opportunities, with fifth-year
Kahliel Spear coming down with the rebound for the Colonials. RMU raced down the court, and Green III was able to get a shot off from just beyond the arc, but the attempt was off the mark.
QUOTABLE
"That hurts really, really bad," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "We talked at halftime about continuing to defend and playing a full 40 minutes, and we didn't do it. That's my fault. We allow offense to determine how we feel. Even with all that said, we had a couple of opportunities to win the game at the end, but we just didn't come through. They did a good job of taking Josh away in the second half, and we didn't have anyone step up to assist him. Really frustrating. It's a humbling game and it's a hard lesson to be taught."
THE RUN
RMU carried a 37-25 advantage into the second 20 minutes of action, but Evansville used a 16-2 run to grab a 41-39 lead with 10:14 to play. Junior guard
Josh Corbin stemmed the tide with a layup to knot the score, 41-41, setting up a frantic final 10 minutes that featured three ties and six lead changes. A jumper from Spear with 1:22 remaining tied it, 51-51, and he was sent to the line with 44 seconds to go after a foul by Sekou Kalle. Spear promptly knocked them both down to give the Colonials a two-point edge, 53-51, and on the ensuing possession, Kyle Strawbridge missed a layup, with Green III drawing a foul after a carom from freshman forward
Stephaun Walker. Green III missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity, setting up the heroics from Beauchamp.
QUOTABLE
"There are two ways to learn, and we learned the hard way today," Toole said. "Hopefully today is an opportunity for our guys to understand that if we don't continue to take care of our business and play a full 40 minutes, you miss a chance to win. It's good and bad that we play in less than 24 hours. I may sound like a curmudgeon here, but even though there's another game tomorrow, we let one get away today. You have to capitalize on every opportunity that you have. I'm not sure we completely understand that yet."
STRONG OPENING
The Colonials could do no wrong in the opening 20 minutes, converting an even 50 percent of their shots from the field (13-for-26) thanks to the shooting prowess of Corbin. Behind a 6-for-9 performance from beyond the arc, Corbin dropped 20 in the opening 20 while RMU also outscored Evansville (2-5), 14-12, in points in the paint. The biggest lead of the contest for the Colonials came at 11:23 in the first half, when a three-point play from Spear thanks to a bucket and foul helped RMU open up a 24-10 advantage.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Corbin led the Colonials with 22 points but scored just once in the second half. Spear notched his second double-double of the year thanks to 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Walker finished with eight points and 10 boards. Outside of that trio, however, the other five Colonials in the rotation supplied just seven points on 3-of-20 (15%) shooting from the field. RMU was also without junior guard
Enoch Cheeks, who missed the game due to injury.
UP NEXT
RMU concludes the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic Sunday, Nov. 27, with a 2:30 p.m. tip against South Alabama at Enmarket Arena.
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