On Saturday evening, Robert Morris lost its second-straight overtime game to Youngstown State and eight straight overall, falling 70-66 in Moon Township.
With ten seconds left in regulation, Robert Morris, for the second straight night, had an opportunity to send the game to overtime with a bucket. Junior forward Cameron Wilbon, who had scored just three points in the first 39 minutes, took the ball inside and drilled a floater in traffic, tying the game with 1.1 seconds left.
In overtime, the Penguins outscored the Colonials 12-8 and knocked down its last four free throws in this one, closing out the second straight overtime victory over RMU.
“Anybody feel like we are in a bad case of déjà vu here?” RMU head coach Andy Toole said after the game. “The frustration continues. We will continue to work and continue to search for ways to get a little bit better so we can try and get over the top on these tough games that we are losing right now.”
After trailing for the first 35 minutes of the game, RMU made a late-game push and took its first lead with 4:07 remaining on a Jon Williams three. A night after his game-tying three that sent the game on Friday to overtime, Williams delivered once again down the stretch and finished with seven points, four rebounds, and three assists.
After struggling to score more than three points in the first half, AJ Bramah turned it on at halftime. The Horizon League’s leading scorer lived up to his name once again, gutting out a 17-point, 16-rebound performance after starting off 0-5 from the field.
“He obviously doesn’t like to come out of the game because he wants to continue to fight,” Toole said about Bramah. “He was a little frustrated with his play, so he just tried to get himself back into a place where he could go in and perform and help his team and I think he did that down the stretch.”
Robert Morris freshman Trayden Williams had another solid game for the Colonials, scoring a career high 16 points and dishing out three assists.
“It felt good,” Williams said about his career-high performance. “It would’ve been better with the win. We just have got to come back with more fire power against Oakland next week.”
Fellow freshman Kam Farris also played well, bouncing back from an 0-for-9 shooting night on Friday and going 2 for 3 from deep with 6 points tonight.
For the Colonials, all nine players who checked in scored at least three points. The team shot 39.1% from the field and 24% from 3-point range, two percentages that matched up pretty evenly against the Penguins.
Youngstown State (10-10, 6-10 Horizon) was led on the scoring end by the trio of Darius Quisenberry, Garrett Covington, and Naz Bohannon, who contributed 21, 15, and 15 points, respectively. As a team, the Penguins struggled shooting the ball, going 37.5% from the field and 25% from 3-point range. Senior forward Michael Akuchie put on a clinic on the boards, grabbing a game-high 24 rebounds including eight on offense.Â
Robert Morris (3-11, 3-9 Horizon) will now have some time to rest and will look to snap its eight-game skid in a two-game series at home against Oakland on Feb. 12 and 13.Â
