MOON TOWNSHIP- Sunday was senior day for the Robert Morris Men’s basketball team. They would play host to Cleveland State 17-12 (10-8). RMU 10-19 (6-12) was 2-11 all-time vs the Vikings and had lost nine straight to Cleveland State, making it a tall task to send the seniors off with a win. They ultimately fall 73-71.
Cleveland State’s Drew Lowder would come down and make a layup to take the lead, laying it up to grab a 73-71 win.
After the game, Head Coach Andy Toole talked about his team valuing every possession.
“You come down to stretch in February and March; everything’s a big deal,” Toole said. “Conference basketball, some of these games are decided by one possession, two possessions. And again, you never know when that possession is where you can change a game.”
RMU would start the day hot as they made four buckets from three. Specifically, Josh Corbin was hot early for the Colonials as he hit two big threes. The Colonials would not create a three towards the latter part of the half, which was huge because they were having trouble getting to the rim and making shots.
RMU also struggled on the defensive end in the first half. Cleveland State finished the half shooting 53% from the floor with a 42-31 lead.
RMU would come out hot from three, making back-to-back threes to cut the lead to three as Cleveland State led 48-45. But the Colonials would miss back-to-back threes, allowing the Vikings to leak out and take the lead.
With 1:14 left and the Colonials down one, Alvaro Folgueiras had a chance to give the Colonials a one-point lead. He would make 1-2 from the line and tie the game. Cleveland State would come down and make a layup to information lead. Folgueiras would again tie the game with a putback layup, but with 1.1 seconds left, Cleveland State’s Drew Lowder would make a layup to take a 73-71 lead, which would be the final score.
Cleveland State’s Tristan Enaruna led all scorers with 24 and added 12 rebounds. Enaruna went 4-5 from the line as he could post up and get to the line often.
RMU’s Josh Corbin had an excellent nice senior day, with 17 points shooting 5-12 from three.
RMU will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 28th, at 7 p.m. as they’ll welcome Northern Kentucky to the UPMC Event Center for the final home game of the season.
