Robert Morris’ first season in the Horizon League came to a quiet close on Thursday night, as the Colonials lost, 83-73 to Detroit Mercy in the first round of the Horizon League men’s basketball tournament.
The Colonials hung tough with the Titans despite an in-game injury to Charles Bain and foul trouble for Dante Treacy, but ultimately had no answer for Detroit guard Antoine Davis, who scored 46 points to lead the Titans to victory.
Davis, who was named to the All-Horizon League first team earlier this week, was 10 of 16 from beyond — and sometime well beyond — the 3-point arc, and shot 16 of 26 from the floor overall. He was also a perfect 4 for 4 from the free-throw line.
Khaliel Spear responded for RMU with 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting, and Jon Williams was just an assist shy of a double-double with 17 points and nine helpers.
But the Colonials were out-matched by Davis and company, who pulled away late in the first half.
“That’s why he’s the leading scorer in the league and a first-team all-league player,” RMU head coach Andy Toole said. “I thought at times, we did a decent job. He’s just able to make shots that are really, really hard to guard.”
The Colonials lead for most of the first 10 minutes, but a Davis jumper with 9:12 to play in the first period sparked a 17-0 run from the Titans that gave Detroit the lead for good. Davis had 10 of the 17 points in that Titans run.
“I thought we actually played some poor offense during that time,” Toole said. “And that kind of led to them getting some opportunities, some run-out lay-ups. We were a little bit dis-jointed offensively. … Jon and Dante (Treacy) at that time, both had two fouls, they were out of the game. They’re two guys that really organize us.”
The Titans also maintained an advantage on the glass, out-rebounding Robert Morris 34-21, with Chris Brandon grabbing 13 boards to go with 10 points. Bul Kuol scored 14 points and had seven boards.
Spear and Bain each had five rebounds to lead the Colonials. Bain was limited to 19 minutes after suffering a lower-body injury. Freshman Kam Farris had 15 points off the bench for RMU.
Detroit entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and as the highest remaining seed, will play at No. 4 Northern Kentucky on Tuesday, March 2.
The Colonials finished their first season in the Horizon League with a 4-15 record and a 3-13 mark against league opponents.
