Robert Morris fans had been waiting for a performance like this all season.
After a trying week, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team put forth a complete effort this afternoon in an 89-71 rout of the Bryant Bulldogs to snap a 3-game losing streak. The 89 points was a season-high for the Colonials who were led by the duo of Billy Giles and Isaiah Still combining for 45 of those points. Giles scored a season-high 23 points of his own while the freshman Still continued his scorching three-game tear with 22 points.
Things did not start off well for Robert Morris as it found itself down 11-4 just four minutes into the contest. The Colonials then used a 12-5 run to tie the game at 16 at the second media timeout which began the offensive onslaught at the Sewell Center.
Giles then put in a layup a minute later to give the Colonials their first lead of the contest and they did not look back from there. Robert Morris used clean ball movement, which led to conistently making key shots and overwhelming the Bulldogs defense in the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Colonials ended up shooting a staggering 64 percent from the field and led 44-37 at the half.
After Bryant’s Marcel Pettway made the first basket of the second half, the Colonials put the game away immediately going on a 14-2 run to stretch the lead to 17 and just continued to shoot the lights out on Bryant the rest of the way.
Robert Morris built a lead as high as 22, which allowed them to empty out the bench and get other players key game action. The Colonials finished shooting a season-best 55 percent from the field, which is an encouraging sign for a team that has battled offensive troubles the whole season.
Along with the great shooting, Robert Morris trounced the Bulldogs on the boards 42-27, led by a game-high 11 from Rodney Pryor. Giles followed with 10 rebounds to complete his second career double-double.
Pryor also added 14 points to give himself his team-high fifth double-double of the season.
With the win, Robert Morris improves to (7-18, 5-7 NEC) and pulls ahead of Bryant (7-18, 4-8) into 8th place in the NEC conference standings
Now the Colonials will close out their three-game homestand on Thursday against in-state rival St. Francis with tip-off slated for 5 p.m.
