Weekend Round-up: Men’s basketball holds their own against NEC-rival Central Connecticut
January 21, 2019
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — RMU men’s basketball was on the road on Martin Luther King Jr. day to finish off a four-game road trip. Here is what happened against Central Connecticut.
1/21/19:
Men’s Basketball: RMU – 70; Central Connecticut State – 59
The Robert Morris men’s basketball (10-9, 5-1 NEC) rolled back to the RMU campus with nothing but smiles after defeating Northeast Conference rival Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils (4-12, 1-5 NEC) by a final score of 70-59 on Monday afternoon.
The first half started with RMU’s Josh Williams making a three-pointer to jump Robert Morris ahead with an early 3-0 lead. Eventually, with RMU and CCSU tied at seven points apiece, the Colonials tried to distance themselves from the Blue Devils, but they could not gain a large marginal difference, as the Colonials held a difference as low as one point that occured twice in the first half. After Robert Morris got to a 10-9 lead, RMU went on a five-point run to get to 15-9 after a free throw from Yannis Mendy.
Robert Morris let their lead slip away temporarily, down 19-17 because of CCSU scoring a three-pointer, but were able to regain the lead for the rest of the first half after Malik Petteway and Cameron Wilbon each scored with jumpers to take a 21-19 lead. Robert Morris finished out the first half with a 36-28 lead because of multiple jumpers and three-pointers made by the Colonials to surge to a strong first half finish.
Robert Morris had a little bit better luck in the second half with helping to get away from Blue Devils’ score. After CCSU scored with a free throw and a jumper and RMU scoring as well with a layup to put the score at 38-31, the Colonials gained an additional four points to get to 42-31 and hold an 11-point difference. Central Connecticut was able to score a periodically throughout the rest of the half, but the Colonials gained the edge by holding a steady pace, holding a difference as high as 13 points, which is what ended the game, by which Matty McConnell finished off the road win with a free throw to win 70-59.
Robert Morris returns home for a 3-game homestand starting on Thursday Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. to face Sacred Heart (8-11, 4-2 NEC).
