Robert Morris’ season comes to an end in Cleveland

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Enoch Cheeks is hounded by Broc Finstuen of Cleveland State.

Ethan Morrison

CLEVELAND– Robert Morris made the trip to Cleveland to take on the top-seeded Vikings Thursday evening hoping to stretch their upset streak to two.

The Colonials struggled offensively, as CSU controlled the pace of play for most of the game, punching their ticket to the Horizon League Semifinals by defeating Robert Morris by a final score of 83-67.

Andy Toole discussed his team’s performance after the game.

“I thought that we got some good shots that we didn’t convert on and it came down to missing and making,” he said. “Kam Farris got a lot of good looks that he didn’t knock down the shots that he traditionally does. Enoch [Cheeks] did a good job with the dribble-drive and getting to the free-throw line and we missed free-throws… we still found some good looks that we were able to capitalize on.”

Both teams got off to a rather slow start as they were feeling each other out. The Colonials and Vikings were shooting just 40 percent from the field early on in the game.

Out of the break, Cleveland State went out on a 5-0 run but that was thwarted by a Brandon Stone three-pointer to cut the lead back down to two.

After an 11-minute delay due to the scoreboard, the game finally resumed with Broc Finstuen hitting both of his free throws.

Robert Morris could not seem to get the offense to flow, as about midway through the first half, they were forcing up shots that allowed the Vikings to jump out to a five-point lead at the under 12 media timeout.

The Colonials just could not get a shot to fall as they were shooting just 43 percent from the field. Cleveland State jumped out to an eight-point lead with eight minutes to go in the first half.

The Vikings continued to pound the Colonials in transition off of missed shots, as a D’Moi Hodge three-pointer forced Toole to call a timeout down 11.

Even out of the timeout the Colonials struggled, as when the media timeout hit they still trailed by 12 points and were shooting just 42 percent from the field.

Despite this, the Colonials made a quick run towards the end of the half as they cut the Viking lead in half to just six thanks to a Kam Farris mid-range jumper.

Enoch Cheeks led the way in scoring with 11 points over the first 20 minutes of play as the Colonials shot a combined 41 percent from the field.

Contrary to the first half, both teams got off to blazing starts but after both teams traded buckets to kick off the second half CSU went off on a 7-0 run.

Cheeks extinguished the run with a three-point field goal to cut the lead back to a single-digit deficit.

Robert Morris continued to try and claw back into the game but Cleveland State always had an answer to the Robert Morris offense. CSU led by nine points at the under 12 media timeout.

It was much more of the same for the Colonials down the stretch of the second half as RMU just could not get it done on the offensive end of the floor.

After struggling for so long, Robert Morris showed some signs of life trailing by just seven points with around three minutes to go in the game.

It was too little too late for the Colonials as they ran out of gas in the final minutes of the game.

Overall, the Colonials shot 50 percent from the field and 23 percent from beyond the arc.

Enoch Cheeks led the way for the Colonials with 21 points while Torrey Patton led the way for Cleveland State with 25 points.

Cleveland State will take on Northern Kentucky on Monday in the Horizon League semifinals at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.