RMU wins third in a row
Colonials stretch their winning streak to three
Bench comes up as big Robert Morris improves to 8-2 in the NEC with a 64-57 win against Central Connecticut State,
Heading into Saturday’s game, most people who just looked at the teams’ records probably expected Robert Morris to win comfortably against Central Connecticut State.
The Blue Devils have won two games all season, though they nearly beat Saint Francis Thursday and played the Colonials tough earlier this season.
Robert Morris got another battle Saturday. Leading by four with 4:48 to play, sophomore guard Jalen Hawkins hit a clutch three, and the Colonials (12-11, 8-2 NEC) hit their shots down the stretch to keep the Blue Devils (2-22, 1-10) at bay, winning their third straight game, 64-57.
“I thought we started the game with some good effort on the offensive side as well as the defensive side,” RMU coach Andrew Toole said. “And then I don’t know if you exhale a little bit and you expect them not to continue to battle, but you’ve always gotta expect it to be hard. You’ve always gotta expect it to be a battle.”
Robert Morris’ bench players, junior forward AJ Bramah, senior guard Sayveon McEwen and Hawkins, came up big on Saturday, as they frequently do.
Bramah, in particular, has perhaps been the Colonials’ best player in conference play. He’s essentially a double-double machine at this point, and that was true again Saturday, as he finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Hawkins and McEwen’s contributions have been less consistent than Bramah’s this season, but on Saturday, they were big. McEwen did everything, getting rebounds, finding his teammates for open looks and hitting a big 3-pointer. Hawkins hit two important threes himself and added three blocks.
“We’re actually gonna need that,” Bramah said after the game. “So seeing [McEwen and Hawkins] hit big shots and stuff like that, that gives us confidence, and we have a lot of trust in them, so we love it.”
Robert Morris got out to a 10-2 lead to start the game, and the pregame standings of each team seemed like it might hold up for the result of the game itself. Central Connecticut State hung tough, though. Guard Jamir Reed came off the bench and scored eight points in the opening 20 minutes, and the Blue Devils fought back quickly.
The Colonials, meanwhile, got some open looks but couldn’t find their stroke from deep. They finished the half 1-for-12 on 3-pointers and turned the ball over nine times. On the final play of the half, Blue Devils center Ola Olamuyiwa hit a layup at the buzzer to give Central Connecticut State a 26-25 lead heading into the break.
Robert Morris broke out in the second half, though, knocking down 57.1% of its shots, including six of their 13 3-pointers. Jon Williams, who set a program record on Saturday with his 91st consecutive start, got the ball rolling in the second frame with two early threes.
“If we’re not making shots, we’re not getting good looks, we’re gonna keep trying different things,” Toole said. “We’re gonna keep throwing the kitchen sink at people until we find something that works, and I thought in the second half we found some more rhythm to our offense, some more energy to our offense, our guys’ details improved offensively, and usually when you do that, you get higherpercentage shots, and we have enough good shooters that are gonna be able to make them if we get those higher percentage ones.”