Robert Morris (6-3) traveled to Athens to take on the Ohio Bobcats (3-5) in a non-conference showdown on Saturday afternoon. The Colonials stuck with the Bobcats for the first 12-and-a-half minutes and trailed by just three points but were outscored 59-46 from that point forward and eventually fell by the score of 84-68.
While the loss snapped the Colonials six-game winning streak, they got their star guard, Kam Woods, back from an injury that he suffered on Nov. 10 in a contest against Chatham. Woods did not log the start in the loss to the Bobcats but was one of the first reserves off of the bench. He finished the game with 5 points as he shot 2-of-4 from the field.
The Colonials snagged the initial score of the game on an Amarion Dickerson free throw but that would be their only lead of the entire game. The Bobcats immediately answered with two buckets from Aidan Hadaway including a three-pointer.
The Colonials tied the game at nine on a triple from Ryan Prather Jr. but then the Bobcats began to pull away. Ohio used a 14-3 run to jump out to an 11-point lead but then the Colonials fought back. Robert Morris managed to pull back within three after Woods nailed his first bucket back from his injury which was a long triple that made the score 25-22.
Following Woods’ three-pointer, the Bobcats found their grove offensively and defensively as they ended the first half on a 6-0 run. The Bobcats defense stopped the Colonials from scoring a single point over the last two minutes and 52 seconds of the first half.
In the first half, the Bobcats shot 57% from the field while the Colonials shot just 32% which allowed Ohio to build a double-digit first-half lead. The Colonials trailed 42-30 at the intermission.
The second half was more of the same with the Colonials struggling to keep up with the hot shooting of the Bobcats. By the under-12 media timeout, the Bobcats extended their lead to 66-44. The Colonials went on an 7-0 run later in the second half to bring the game back to a 15-point margin but they were never able to catch back up the Bobcats.
The Colonials were paced by Josh Omojafo in the loss as he posted 15 points. Antallah Sandlin’El added 14 points and Alvaro Folgueiras scored 12 in the loss for Robert Morris.
Ohio was led to victory by the hot-shooting day from AJ Clayton as he led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting. The Bobcats also got solid contributions from Vic Searls (14 points), Hadaway (12 points) and Jackson Paveletzke (12 points) in the 16-point victory over the Colonials.
The Colonials return home to the UPMC Events Center to open up Horizon League play on Wednesday against the Youngstown St. Penguins.
