Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU men's basketball team christened the month of February with the first of two road games Thursday, dropping an 80-75 decision to UIC in Chicago, Ill., at Credit Union 1 Arena. The Colonials slipped to 5-17 (.227) overall during the 2021-22 campaign, including 3-10 (.231) in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Flames grabbed their largest lead in the first half, 30-19, but RMU trimmed its deficit to five, 39-34, at halftime, and tied the contest, 39-39, early in the second half thanks to a three-pointer from sophomore guard
Enoch Cheeks and a layup from junior forward
Jaron Williams. In the second half the game was tied on six occasions, with the Colonials grabbing a 53-51 edge with 12:17 remaining thanks to a pull up jumper from junior guard
Michael Green III. The basket for Green III capped a 9-2 burst that helped RMU erase a 49-44 deficit.
A GAME OF RUNS
RMU was able to stay ahead of the Flames after grabbing the lead by converting at the free-throw line. On consecutive possessions Cheeks was sent to the stripe, who promptly drained each of his four attempts, the last two of which gave the Colonials a 57-55 cushion. UIC responded by scoring the next nine points of the contest, including four points from Damaria Franklin and a three-pointer by Filip Skobalj, to open up a 64-57 advantage with 8:43 left. RMU was able to close to within 71-70 at the 3:20 mark of the second half thanks to triples from Green III and Cheeks, but the Colonials couldn't get over the top. The Flames sealed the win with a 6-for-8 performance at the free-throw line in the final 41 seconds.
QUOTABLE
"Inconsistent effort defensively for us tonight," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "We're not good enough to pick and choose when we give the effort, especially defensively. They have some good guys that create space and make shots, and they made a couple more than we did. We played UIC's game tonight instead of RMU's game. In my time here there aren't too many times when we allow 80 that we win. That's not who we are."
AMERICA'S BEST
Junior forward
Justin Winston was a major contributor for the Colonials off the bench Thursday, providing a season-high 19 points on an 8-for-14 shooting performance, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He provided his own run in the first half when RMU went down by double digits, scoring eight consecutive points to spark an 11-0 run that tied the game, 30-30. The run was capped by a triple from Williams, which came on a feed from Winston.
QUOTABLE
"Justin had a good week of practice and had a ton of energy today at shoot around," Toole said. "He had some good looks tonight and knocked them down. He has to build on that. Hopefully he can catch his stride coming down the stretch. We need him to be a consistent producer for us."
RELIABILITY
Senior forward
Kahliel Spear rebounded from failing to score in double figures for the first time during the 2021-22 campaign at home Thursday with his fifth double-double of the season with game highs in both points (23) and rebounds (13). He also added four assists, three steals and a block in a complete performance. Joining Spear and Winston in double figures for the Colonials was Green III (16) and Cheeks (12) as RMU finished by converting 47.5 percent (28-for-59) of its shots from the floor. Kevin Johnson paced the Flames with 18 points while also tallying seven caroms and three dimes.
UP NEXT
The Colonials conclude a two-game road trip to open the month of February Saturday, Feb. 5, with a Noon tip at IUPUI.
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