GAME 33
2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament Quarterfinals
#6 RMU (16-16) @ #3 Cleveland State (19-12)
Thursday, March 2, 2023 • 8:00 p.m.
Wolstein Center (13,610) • Cleveland, Ohio

TV: ESPN+ w/ Al Pawlowski (pxp) & Jensen Lewis (color)
Radio: RMU Athletics Gameday App w/ Chris Shovlin (pxp) & Jim Elias (color)
Twitter: @RMUMBasketball • Instagram: RMUMBasketball
 
Opening Tip
 
- The RMU men's basketball team heads to Cleveland, Ohio, and the Wolstein Center for the second consecutive year to take on Cleveland State in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament. Tip time is slated for 8:00 p.m.
 
- Senior guard Michael Green III hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining to help lift the Colonials to a 67-64 win over #11 IUPUI (2/28/23) in the first round of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament at the UPMC Events Center. Green III finished with 16 points in the victory.
 
- Fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear led RMU in the win over the Jaguars with his 13th double-double of the year, which leads the Horizon League, thanks to 17 points and 11 rebounds. He also matched a career high for the third time this season with four blocks. Freshman forward Stephaun Walker added 12 points and nine rebounds in the triumph.
 
- In a vote of #HLMBB head coaches, fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear was named to both the 2023 All-Horizon League Second Team and 2023 All-Horizon League Defensive Team, while junior guard Enoch Cheeks earned a spot on the 2023 All-Horizon League Third Team.
 
- Fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear, who was also named to the 2023 Horizon League All-Academic Team for owning a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.91, owns the RMU career record for blocks (103). In nine games during the month of February, Spear averaged 15.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per contest and posted five double-doubles.
 
- Senior guard Michael Green III has scored in double figures in six consecutive games entering Thursday's game @ Cleveland State and during that stretch has averaged 15.5 points and 2.8 assists while knocking down 55.9 percent (33-for-59) of his shots from the floor, including 48.1 percent (13-for-27) from deep.
 
- In its final game of the 2022-23 regular season, RMU dropped an 81-75 decision @ IUPUI (2/23/23) to have a four-game winning streak snapped. Fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear recorded his 12th double-double of the year with game high totals in points (27) and rebounds (12).
 
- Off the bench against the Jaguars, senior guard Michael Green III scored 15 points, while junior guard Enoch Cheeks finished with 15 points and tied a career high with five steals.
 
- The Colonials concluded the home portion of their regular season by stretching their winning streak to a season-high four games and capping a perfect 3-0 homestand with an 83-64 victory over Youngstown State (2/21/23) at the UPMC Events Center. Junior guard Josh Corbin scored all 19 of his points in the second half, including 13 during a deciding 19-0 run, to bolster RMU in the win.

CLEVELAND STATE LINKS
- Game Notes (PDF)
- Audio
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- Live Stats
- RMU Athletics Gameday App
- Tickets
 
The All-Time Series (Cleveland State) – RMU and Cleveland State tip for the 21st time Thursday, with the Vikings owning a 13-7 (.650) edge in the all-time series. CSU has won seven consecutive games over the Colonials. In the last meeting between the two program, a tip-in with two seconds left from Deante Johnson with two seconds left helped give the Vikings a 57-55 victory. Junior guard Enoch Cheeks finished with 17 points, five assists and four blocks for RMU. The Vikings earned a 63-54 win over RMU in the opening game of the 2022-23 season series. In that contest junior guard Enoch Cheeks led the Colonials with 19 points while also registering three rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
IUPUI Notes – The Colonials grabbed a 3-2 (.600) edge in the all-time series with the win ... The three games played between RMU and IUPUI were decided by an average of 5.3 points ... In the three games against the Jaguars during the 2022-23 season, fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear averaged 22.0 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting an event 50 percent (21-for-42) from the floor and 76.7 percent (23-for-30) at the free-throw line ... RMU matched a season high in fouls (21) against the Jaguars, which the Colonials finished with @ IUPUI (2/23/23) ... RMU also matched a season low in field goals (19), which is also recorded against Evansville (11/26/22) ... The Colonials picked up their first win in 10 games this season when failing to shoot 40 percent (35.8%) from the field.
 
In The Clutch – You certainly could say that the Colonials have a flair for the dramatic. Senior guard Michael Green III became the latest RMU student-athlete to hit a buzzer beater by draining a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to lift the Colonials a 67-64 win over IUPUI (2/28/23) at the UPMC Events Center in the first round of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament. Green III is also the first player for RMU to hit a buzzer beater in a conference tournament since Matty McConnell (2015-19) hit a driving layup with 15 seconds left that tied St. Francis Brooklyn, 56-56, at the North Athletic Complex in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament. RMU would go on to win that game in overtime. A closer look at the last 10 Colonials to convert a field goal or free throw in the final 15 seconds to give RMU a victory or send the game to overtime ...
 

Player	Opponent (Date)	Time (sec)	Score
Michael Green III	vs.IUPUI (2/28/23) %	2.1	W, 67-64
Cameron Wilbon	vs. Youngstown State (2/6/21)	1.1	L, 66-70 *
Jon Williams	vs. Youngstown State (2/5/21)	0.0	L, 78-84 *
Matty McConnell	vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (3/6/19) #	14.3	W, 69-65 *
Josh Williams	vs. Mount St. Mary's (1/5/19)	13.4	W, 62-59
Matty McConnell	vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (1/4/18) $	10.8 (OT)	W, 80-79 *
Kavon Stewart	@ LIU Brooklyn (3/1/17) #	3.0	W, 69-68
Isaiah Still	vs. Duquesne (12/6/16)	15.3	W, 64-60
Aaron Tate	vs. Central Connecticut (2/14/15)	0.0	W, 53-52
Lucky Jones	vs. St. Francis Brooklyn (2/22/14)	3.1 (OT)	W, 71-70 *

$ A.J. Palumbo Center (three-point play); % #HLMBB Tournament; # NEC Tournament; * Overtime
 
Bring It Home – Fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear enters Thursday's game @ Cleveland State for the quarterfinals of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament having reached double figures in scoring in 16 consecutive games dating back to the beginning of January. During that stretch Spear has averaged 18.0 points and 9.1 rebounds while converting 53.2 percent (107-for-201) of his shots from the field and recording eight double-doubles. Spear has also cracked the top five in the RMU single-season record book for rebounds with 265 and is just 10 rebounds shy of the program record of 274 that was set in RMU's first season in 1976-77 by Earl Cureton.
 
Record Breaker – RMU set a single-season program record in the first round of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament, as the Colonials posted six blocks, including four from fifth-year forward Kahliel Spear, to push their season total to 130. That total breaks the old mark of 127 that was established by the 2015-16 Colonials. Spear has been at the center of the block party, as his four rejections in a 67-64 win over #11 IUPUI (2/28/23) pushed his season total to 45, establishing an individual single-season mark. Spear enters Thursday's game with 103 career rejections, extending his RMU career record. In 128 career games at the NCAA Division I level, Spear has blocked 133 shots (1.04 per game).
 
Defense Wins Championships – The numbers bear out that following in the footsteps of defending is victories. Over the last 16 years, RMU owns a record of 222-67 (.768) when holding opponents under 70 points since the beginning of the 2007-08 season. Thanks to a 67-64 win over #11 IUPUI (2/28/23) in the first round of the 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Tournament, the Colonials improved to 171-60 (.740) under 13th-year RMU Pat Gallagher Head Coach Andrew Toole when turning the trick. Overall in the last 16 years, RMU has held its opponent to under 70 points 54.6 percent (289-of-529) of the time.

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