Following two tough road losses, Andy Toole’s team returned home and used a late second half push to down Bryant, 72-59.
Robert Morris trailed by four with under ten minutes left in the game and a trio of underclassman came to the rescue. Junior forward Yannis Mendy, sophomore Jon Williams and sophomore Chris Coalmon led the Colonials on a 17-1 run and it proved to be the turning point in the game.
With the win, Robert Morris (13-11, 8-3) kept their one-game lead for first place in the Northeast Conference.
“A really important win for us,” said Toole. “It was a good kind of test on how we could handle a little bit of discomfort and adversity in the first half. I thought it we could keep the pace in the second half we would get our opportunities.”
Balanced scoring was once again a key for Robert Morris as four players reached double-digits. Mendy Yannis led the Colonials with 14 points (7 for 8 from the field), Chris Coalmon (5 for 5 from the field) contributed a career-high 12 points while Jon Williams and Charles Bain both chipped in with 10 points.
“After I saw the first one go in, I thought maybe I should keep shooting,” said Coalmon. “It feels good that your teammates keep passing you the ball when you’re on fire, and your teammates feel good for you when you’re hitting shots like that, too. When we play defense we get hyped up. That makes it easier for us to make shots.”
Next up for Robert Morris is a Saturday afternoon home game against Central Connecticut State. Tip-off from Moon Twp is set for 4 PM.
