Robert Morris has been booking quite the acts since opening their new arena. On Friday night, one of the nation’s brightest young stars in Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis joined the likes of Evanescence, Doobie Brothers and Bob Dylan to deliver a fantastic show for the attending audience. But unlike those bands Davis was just the opening act, as fans had come to UPMC Events Center to see Robert Morris.
And the fans weren’t disappointed as Robert Morris (10-12, 5-6) shot 66.7% in the second half en route to a 85-77 victory over Detroit Mercy (8-14, 4-7).
To start things off it was Detroit Mercy who scored first but Robert Morris who scored the next ten points, more specifically Khalil Spear and Jackson Last. Last had a pair of three-pointers in the three-minute 10-run while Spear hit a pair of layups. The highlight of the run though came on defense and not from one of the aforementioned players. A breakaway by Antione Davis, who is closing in on the all-time career NCAA scoring record, was stuffed at the hoop by Enoch Cheeks.
Davis though would strike next. A foul shot ended the Robert Morris run, but it was Davis who led Detroit Mercy run as he hit four consecutive three-point shots in about a three-minute span, including one with a defender almost draped over him. After his last one he’d be taken out of the game to rest for a bit. That rest would be just a sip of water and he’d come out and hit a fifth-consecutive three-pointer.
After the score was tied at 12-12, Detroit Mercy scored the next ten points. After being down 10-2, Detroit Mercy had gone on a 20-2 run in a span of nine minutes on the back of Davis’s five three-pointers. He’d later hit another one, and get a pair from his teammates, but Robert Morris started hitting three-pointers of their own, specifically Josh Corbin who had three in a row, and had come back in the came. At the half, Robert Morris trailed by just one point at 33-32.
Davis was 5-for-6 from three-point range in the first half and his team was shooting 61.5% from three-point range. Robert Morris though was keeping pace and was nearly identical in all metrics. In addition, they were sharing the ball well with three players in Corbin (nine), Last (eight) and Spear (eight) each approaching double-digit points and had 11 assists as a team.
To start the second half, a pair of foul shots from Khalil Spear gave Robert Morris their first lead since losing it with 11:53 left in the first half. A Last three-pointer extended that lead to 37-33 just one and a half minute into the second half. A foul shot and yet another Davis three-pointer tied things up shortly afterwards. Robert Morris though would gain the lead back and extend it to 45-39 by the first media timeout.
Robert Morris would keep their lead hovering around six points up to 55-49 before Detroit Mercy, thanks in part to another Davis three, tied things up at 55-55. At this point in the half, both teams were shooting above 50% for the half with Robert Morris at 61.5% and Detroit Mercy at 53.3%. For the game at this point, both teams were exactly 20-for-43 (46.5%) from the field.
Robert Morris regained the lead shortly thereafter and never lost it, although Detroit Mercy stayed within the game for the remainder with the lead not passing six points until less than three minutes at 79-70, but even that was trimmed back down after a Davis three-pointer. While Robert Morris was never able to extend their lead into double-digits, they answered every Detroit Mercy basket with one of their own and pulled away with the — victory.
Spear (25) and Corbin (20) led Robert Morris in scoring with Davis (29) leading the game. The two teams combined to shoot an incredible 59-for-119 (50.4%) in the game with Robert Morris alone shooting 30-for-57 (52.6%) in the game and an astonishing 18-for-27 (66.7%) in the second half. They also had a season-high 24 assists in the contest. Robert Morris will next host Oakland (9-12, 7-3) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. With just one month of basketball left they sit tied for seventh in the Horizon league with Wright State (12-10, 5-6).
