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Robert Morris beats Fairleigh Dickinson, 89-46
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If senior night is meant to represent finality, it's an idea that Robert Morris is not ready to embrace -- at least not yet.
With their 89-46 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson Saturday night at the Sewall Center, the Colonials have won six of their last seven games and 12 of their last 14 games, putting them atop the Northeast Conference standings.
Two games remain in Robert Morris' regular season, both of which come on the road and will have a large bearing on what seed the team receives for the NEC tournament.
For a team that speaks about its one-day-at-a-time mindset ad nauseum, Saturday's win over the last-place Knights was treated as just another game, even with an unorthodox starting lineup that included little-used seniors Treadwell Lewis and Shane Sweigart.
And it showed in a big way.
Leading 17-15 nearly 10 minutes into the game, Robert Morris finished the first half on a 27-8 run in which seven different players recorded a basket, giving the team a 44-25 lead going into halftime.
Fairleigh Dickinson would get no closer than 19 points for the remainder of regulation, with the Colonials' lead growing to as many as 47 points.
The 43-point difference was Robert Morris' largest margin of victory of the season.
Guard Velton Jones, who missed the team's previous two games to rest a shoulder injury, played 20 minutes and scored a team-high 20 points.
Forward Russell Johnson added to a balanced Robert Morris offense with 10 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double of the season (both of which have come against Fairleigh Dickinson). Forward Mike McFadden scored 15 points, matching a season high.
For a team that's struggled with rebounding at various points this season, the Colonials' matchup against Kinu Rochford, who entered the game with the 32nd best offensive rebounding percentage in Division I, was expected to be a difficult one.
However, Robert Morris outrebounded Fairleigh Dickinson 54-24, with a visibly frustrated Rochford voluntarily exiting the game late in the first half.
With the victory, the Colonials clinched no worse than a fourth-place finish in the NEC standings, meaning it will get at least one home game in the conference tournament.
Perhaps the team's most important game of the regular season comes Thursday, as it plays a Bryant team that trails it by 1.5 games in the conference standings. The Bulldogs won the previous meeting between the two teams this season, an 84-77 victory Jan. 3.
First Published February 23, 2013 9:13 pm
