MOON TOWNSHIP — The Robert Morris Colonials men’s basketball team (10-9 overall, 5-1 NEC) is on their home court this weekend as they take on the Sacred Heart Pioneers (8-11 overall, 4-2 NEC) on Thursday, January 24th at 7:00 p.m. at the North Athletic Complex. The Colonials are currently on a two-game winning streak after they won their last game against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (8-11 overall 2-4 NEC) by the final score of 70-59. The Pioneers are also coming off a win, this time against the Wagner Seahawks (8-9 overall, 3-3 NEC) with the end result of that game being 62-38.

After that, the Robert Morris Colonials will take on the Wagner Seahawks (8-9 overall 3-3 NEC) on Saturday, January 26th at 5:00 p.m. at the North Athletic Complex. The Seahawks are currently on a two-game losing streak and those loses came against the Sacred Heart Pioneers and Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers (4-15 overall, 1-5 NEC). The final score of the Mountaineers was 56 to 70 in favor of the Mountaineers.

Recapping RMU

The Colonials are comming off an 11-point victory against the CCSU Blue Devils. The stars of the game for RMU were Josh Williams (15 points) Malik Petteway (nine rebounds) and Jon Williams (four assists). In the first half of the game, the Colonials scored 36 points while in the second half they added on another 34 points. The big strong point for Robert Morris has been their defense, which is currently 103rd in deffensive efficency in the country according to Ken Pomeroy with a deffensive efficency rating of 99.9. Deffensive efficency is the amount of points given up per 100 possesions.

Recapping Sacred Heart

The Pioneers last took on the Wagner Seahawks and took over the scoring the entire game. The game was close throughout the game with the Pioneers scored 30 points in the first half while the Seahawks only scored 15 points. The second half of the game closed the gap points but in the end the Pioneers took the game from the Seahawks. The Pioneers dominates in scoring points and had a solid defensive to play off the offensive.

Recapping Wagner

The Seahawks had lost their last two game to the Sacred Heart Pioneers and the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers. In the first half of the game the Seahawks were only five points behind the Mountaineers. In the second half the Mountaineers just edged out the Seahawks ending the Seahawks two game winning streak. Enough through the seahawks haven’t had a good couple of games they had good offensive and defensive numbers.

Players to watch

Josh Williams (RMU): Williams led the team in almost every offensive category so far this season. He had the most minutes on the court and he takes advantage of it with scored 284 points so far this season. He also led the team in field goal attempts made with 88 and has made 65 three point shots.

Malik Petteway (RMU): Petteway is defensively dominate, but can score with the rest of the squad too. He leads the team in offensive rebounds with 36 and defensive rebounds with 76. He leads the team in free throw attempts made with 50 and has blocked 26 shots this season so far. He has stolen the ball from the opposing teams 29 times and his steal rate is currently 20th in the country according to Ken Pomeroy.

Jare’l Spellman (SHU): Spellman hadsplayed and started all 19 of the Pioneers games this season. He leads the squad in blocked shots with 55, and has recovered 102 defensive rebounds and he had 46 offensive rebounds. He has a total of 185 points this season.

Romone Saunders (Wagner): Saunders leads almost every offensive, defensive, and scoring categories. He had a 312 points scored in 582 minutes on the court which is the most on the squad. On the offensive side of the court he led the team in assists with 61, he had 88 free throws made, and 91 field goal shot made. On the defensive side He led in the team in defensive rebounds 88, he also had 20 steals, and had 32 offensive rebounds.

Predictions

Even though the Colonials have great momentum coming into this game, the Pioneers will take the win in the end. The game will be close though with a final score of 67-63.

After a well battled game the Colonials will rebound against the Seahawks. The final score of the game will be 78-75. The next game for the Colonials will seem them stay on their home court to take on the Saint Francis Red Flash on Thursday, January 31st at 7:00 p.m.