Only when there's a state of emergency does shooting lights out literally mean "lights out."

A mid-game power outage did little to slow down Robert Morris as the Colonials shot 64.1 percent in a 75-63 victory against Saint Francis (Pa.) Saturday night at the Sewall Center.

Robert Morris coach Mike Rice said patience on the offensive end helped the Colonials' shooting percentage.

The win was the first-place Colonials' second in three days against the Red Flash. Robert Morris beat Saint Francis, 76-67, Thursday night in Loretto.

The Red Flash (7-16, 5-7) were 31.3 from the field Saturday night, including a 6-for-22 shooting performance in the second half.

Freshman guard Karon Abraham led the Colonials (16-8, 11-1) with 14 points.

During the second media timeout of the game, the lights at the Sewall Center began to flicker before the gymnasium went completely black. Floodlights provided some illumination within seconds, and most of the lights turned on after eight minutes.

The outage caused an 18-minute delay as the teams took some time to warm up after the brief stoppage. But the scoreboard that hovers over midcourt never turned back on, and two flip-card scoreboards on each sideline kept a running tally of the score. Officials used a foghorn in lieu of the scoreboard's buzzer.

"We were very fortunate just to get this game in," Rice said. After the outage, the Sewall Center was the only building on Robert Morris' campus with power.

Robert Morris led, 13-10, with 11:39 remaining in the first half when the lights went out, and it took them a few minutes to get back into the game. But when the Colonials recovered from the unscheduled intermission, they put the Red Flash away.

The Colonials had a 43-32 halftime lead, and they stayed hot early in the second half, building a 21-point lead in the first six minutes.

The Red Flash pulled no closer than 12 points for the remainder of the game. Rice was frustrated after the game with his team's performance down the stretch. The Colonials committed 15 turnovers in the second half.

"I still didn't like the way we finished out," Rice said. "This young team played the scoreboard too many times and didn't improve."

Robert Morris officials considered postponing the game until today because of the record snowstorm. But the Colonials are scheduled to play Pitt Monday at the Petersen Events Center, and a game this afternoon would have presented logistical challenges.

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