RMU lets guard down in pivotal second half

Colonials coach points to ‘lack of urgency’ on defense as conference slide continues

Trailing by two, Robert Morris gave up two late 3-pointers to bury itself in a hole with about five minutes to play.

That turned out to be too much to overcome, as the Colonials fell to Central Connecticut, 77-68, Saturday at North Athletic Complex. Robert Morris now lost three of its past four games after starting Northeast Conference play 7-1.

“Credit Central for the way they played down the stretch,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said.

“I thought they did an excellent job exploiting some of our lack of urgency, defensively. We couldn’t come up with stops. You let somebody shoot 65 percent in the second half and 75 percent from 3, good luck trying to win the game. … When we don’t guard, we don’t win, and that’s what happened tonight.”

RMU (13-12 8-4 NEC) lost the lead at 6:06 in the second half and never got it back, shooting 39.7 percent to the Blue Devils’ 49.1 percent overall. Central Connecticut (11-14, 5-7) won the rebounding battle, 41-33.

The Colonials had a hard time containing Blue Devils senior Tyler Kohl, who led all scorers with 23 points.

A jumper by senior guard Josh Williams, who finished with 12 points, cut the Colonials’ deficit to 69-64 with 2:34 left. Down, 71-64, Williams was called for traveling. With 1:12 left, senior forward Malik Petteway was called for blocking.

Two free throws later, the Colonials found themselves trailing by nine.

“The difference-maker was getting stops,” Petteway said. “I feel like tonight, we didn’t defend very well. We gave up 3s down the line, which hurt us in the long run, and that was the biggest thing, was defense, and not hitting enough shots on offense.”

Petteway led RMU with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Sophomore forward Charles Bain added 10 points and freshman guard Dante Treacy had 10 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

In the first half, consecutive 3-pointers by Williams brought the Colonials within a point of the Blue Devils, 19-18. A 3pointer and three free throws by Treacy tied it, 24-24, but two quick 3s by Central Connecticut gave it a 31-26 lead at halftime.

“Basically, the cleaning up part, we just want to be on the same page and just focus more and be a little bit more attentive playing as a team,” Treacy said of the team’s plan moving forward. “Just follow our formula, basically … closing out on 3s, like I gave up two in the corner, and those were huge, just not being aware and urgent. That was pretty much it.”

In January, Robert Morris beat Central Connecticut, 7059. Only two Blue Devils scored in double digits then, as opposed to four Saturday (Kohl with 23, Joe Hugley with 15, Ian Krishan with 14 and Deion Bute with 11).

That win might have gotten RMU a little complacent, according to Toole, with the Colonials’ intensity dipping for stretches Saturday.

“I think we might have had a false sense of security in terms of how they would perform and how they would play,” Toole said. “And that’s why you always have to be so urgent about your preparation, your thoughts that creep in your head, thinking that you’re just going to show up and win.

“We didn’t have a great energy this morning at shootaround, we didn’t have great energy in warm-ups and that kind of translated to the beginning of the game. We had a stretch where we played with some energy and were able to take the lead, but we couldn’t sustain it.”

Robert Morris plays at Mount St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. Thursday.