Pictured Above: Sophomore
Nigel Jackson whose 13 points vs. RMU were two shy of his career high
Box Score
Moon Township, PA – Redshirt senior guard
Romone Saunders scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half and sophomore forward
Nigel Jackson added 13 but Northeast-Conference (NEC)-leading Robert Morris was able to hang on and survive for a 57-51 win in a defensive dogfight at North Atlantic Complex on Saturday.
The Seahawks, who were coming off
an impressive 83-79 win at Saint Francis U on Thursday, are now 9-10 on the season and 4-4 in the NEC, while the Colonials improve to 12-9 overall and 7-1 in league play.
Today's contest was a typical physical, defensive-minded, half-court Wagner-Robert Morris type game.
Malik Petteway was the lone RMU player in double figures with 13 points, Jon Williams had nine, while his brother Josh Williams, along with Matty McConnell, finished with eight points apiece.
RMU appeared to be on its way to an eight-point halftime lead, grinding out a 24-16 advantage, before Jackson ended the half by banking home a three-pointer with three seconds to go in making it a 24-19 game at the intermission.
The Colonials opened the second half with a 10-2 run, capped by a Petteway jumper at the 14:52 mark, that put RMU on top by a 34-24 count. Midway through the second half, Robert Morris appeared to be on the verge of breaking it open after a Sayveon McEwen layup gave the Colonials their biggest lead of the game at 40-28.
At the 9:35 mark, Saunders stemmed the tide by driving in for an old-fashioned three-point play in triggering a 12-2 Seahawk run that was capped by another Saunders layup, this one at the 7:07 mark, that made it a 42-40 game.
With Wagner now back in it, the game remained a hard-nosed affair the rest of the way.
With 2:42 left, Saunders knocked down an elbow jumper that drew the Seahawks to within three at 46-43. Wagner got to within two points at 47-45 with 1:32 remaining following pair of free throws from senior guard
Elijah Davis.
With 1:00 left to play, Jon Williams hit a big jumper in traffic that pushed the lead back to four at 49-45. Following a missed layup by Saunders at the 38-second mark, Josh Williams sank a pair of free throws seven seconds later to make it 51-45, and the Colonials were able to escape from there.
As would be expected in a contest featuring a pair of gritty teams that mirror one another in many respects, the final statistics were nearly even. RMU held a slight 34%-31% edge in shooting, while both teams were cold from deep (Wagner 25%, RMU 15%) and hot from the free throw line (Wagner 94%, RMU 89%).
Perhaps the biggest statistic from the game came in the rebounding department. The Seahawks entered the game with the top rebounding margin (5.1) in the NEC, but it was the Colonials who scrapped their way to a 44-28 edge on the glass.
While Robert Morris never trailed in the game, this was far from an easy victory for the Colonials. These teams will meet once again in the regular season finale on March 2 at the Spiro Sports Center.
NOTE: With his 16 points vs. RMU, Saunders is now up to 1,187 career points, which places him 25
th on the Seahawk all-time scoring list behind Tyler Murray 2008-12), who sits in 24
th place with 1,216 points.
23. Bob Mahala, Sr. (1950-52, 1955-57) 1,217
24. Tyler Murray (2008-12) 1,216
25. Romone Saunders (2014-pres.) 1,187
Wagner is next in action on Thursday, January 31 when the Seahawks return to Grymes Hill to host the Bryant University Bulldogs in a matchup that can be seen on ESPN+.
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Wagner Athletics
Men's Basketball:
Head Coach
Bashir Mason:
