Cleveland, Ohio – The RMU men's basketball team concluded its 2021-22 campaign Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Keeps Horizon League Tournament, falling to No. 1 seed Cleveland State, 83-67, at the Wolstein Center. The Colonials finish the season with an overall record of 8-24 (.250).
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Torrey Patton scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to bolster the Vikings, keeping RMU at arm's length each time the Colonials looked to be making a run. He scored eight consecutive points early in the second half for Cleveland State (20-9), including a layup off an offensive rebound that gave the Vikings a 51-39 edge. The Colonials were able to whittle their deficit to 51-44 with 13:12 remaining after a jumper from junior guard
Michael Green III, but Patton answered with another second chance opportunity to push the lead right back up to nine, 53-44. The Vikings knocked down 67.9 percent (19-for-28) of their attempts from the field in the second half and 54.2 percent (32-for-59) overall.
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"That's why they're the defending champs," RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach
Andrew Toole said. "They have so many guys that can step up and make plays. We have a number of set actions and offensive plays, but we also have a free-flowing motion where we can flow from one action to the next. We struggled to get into that during large portions of the game. That hurt us. When we moved the ball with pace and attacked, we got some really good looks. If you're going to come into a building like this against the defending champs, you have to be able to step up and make those shots."
DOWN LOW, PRESSURE
Cleveland State attacked the rim consistently against the Colonials, outscoring RMU, 48-34, in points in the paint. The Vikings also forced RMU into 18 turnovers, using that to the tune of a 20-9 advantage in points off turnovers. D'Moi Hodge gave CSU a 31-19 lead with 5:33 to go in the first half with a three-pointer, but the Colonials closed the half on an 11-5 surge to close to within 36-30 at the break. During the last 4:51 of action in the opening 20 minutes, the Colonials suffered just one turnover, which came with 19 seconds left. The turnover didn't hurt RMU, with sophomore guard
Kam Farris knocking down a jumper as time expired in the first half to close the deficit to six at halftime.
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"We had probably five points taken away on charges," Toole said. "You look at those couple of plays, where you had an opportunity to score, and they step in and take a charge because they're a tough-minded team. It takes away a couple of baskets, and that hurts you because we needed everything we could get when it was available to us."
BREAK OUT
Sophomore guard
Enoch Cheeks was the main force on offensive for the Colonials against the Vikings, leading the way with a career-high 21 points while also recording seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks. He finished 6-for-12 from the field and was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line, while three of his caroms came on the offensive end. As a team the Colonials finished with six rejections, pushing their 2021-22 season total in the category to 122. That total ranks second in the RMU single-season record book.
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Spear chipped in 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, a pair of steals and a pair of blocks against the Vikings, concluding the 2021-22 season by reaching double figures in 11 consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. He finished 6-for-9 shooting from the floor and wrapped up the campaign with a field goal percentage of 55.1 percent (188-for-341). Junior forward
Brandon Stone scored 10 points off the bench for RMU and was perfect from the floor, going 4-for-4, including his only attempt from beyond the arc. He also added four rebounds and a block.
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"As that game got down the stretch, we tried to stay in zone as long as we could," Toole said. "They started to get a rhythm in zone and we went to man and they just drove us. They just drove us for layups. You just can't get driven time and time and time again. We have to figure out ways of doing a better job protecting the paint and protecting the rim. Like we did on Tuesday night. Tonight we couldn't do that. Guys were just driving into the paint and scoring. We have to get bigger, we have to get stronger and we have to get tougher."
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