MOON, Pa. — On Sunday afternoon, Robert Morris men’s basketball improved to 4-2 on the season and clinched the Urban-Bennett Invitational with a win over New Orleans, 73-62.
The Colonials led by as many as 16 in the first half, and fought off a ferocious comeback effort from New Orleans in the second.
Robert Morris guards Dilen Miller and DJ Smith came out firing, each hitting their first three-point attempts of the game to give the Colonials the lead early. Both teams struggled to shoot early aside from those two early makes, though. In the first ten minutes of the game, RMU shot 33% from the field, and New Orleans shot 29%.
Smith hit another three minutes later, converting a four-point play after he was fouled. Shortly after, Miller drained another, and Ismael Plet made a layup. The Colonials led by ten, 23-13, with seven minutes to play in the frame, and did not look back from there. RMU took that momentum and turned it into a 12-1 run, resulting in a 16-point lead with five minutes to go.
After New Orleans went on a quick 9-0 run themselves, RMU countered with a three off the hands of Alvaro Folgueiras, extending the lead back up to ten. At the break, the Colonials led 35-27 over the Privateers, as Folgueiras led with nine points and Smith had seven.
In the second half, the two teams battled back and forth while RMU retained a stable lead. However, New Orleans threw several different defensive looks at the Colonials, aggressively forcing turnovers from the Colonials.
The turnovers continued to pile on for RMU, and with just under seven minutes to go, New Orleans’ James White drained a three pointer to cut the Colonial lead all the way down to five points. After Jah Short hit a layup on the next possession, the lead was down to just three.
With another chance for a big basket, RMU’s Folgueiras squared up for a three late in the shot clock with about five minutes to go. He knocked down the triple, however, after review, the shot was released after the shot clock had expired. To pile on, after New Orleans forced a jump ball on defense, RMU head coach Andy Toole was assessed a technical foul minutes later.
New Orleans cut the lead all the way down to two points with 4:07 to play after another layup. However, in the final minutes, RMU’s defense tightened up and a three pointer from Smith, his fourth of the game, extended RMU’s lead up to nine. Robert Morris cruised to the victory in the final minute with two ore free throws from Smith, bringing his scoring total to 18.
White finished as New Orleans’ leading scorer, with 26 points.
New Orleans entered the game ranked as the No. 359 team out of 364 in Division One basketball, according to Ken Pomeroy’s rankings.
RMU turned the ball over 20 times in the game. Robert Morris’ Folgueiras finished as the team’s leading scorer, dropping 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He also led the way in the rebounding department, grabbing ten boards.
Robert Morris’ Kam Woods missed his third-straight game with a leg injury, Woods had a boot on his right foot.
RMU will now hit the road and head up to Ithaca, New York in a few days. On Thursday, the Colonials will take on Cornell (3-1), who has taken down Division I opponents Samford and Lafayette. Cornell dropped its lone loss of the season to La Salle.
