Wright State Wins in Comeback Fashion, Snaps Robert Morris’ 6-Game Win Streak

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Photo courtesy of Wright State Athletics/Nick Phillips

The Robert Morris Colonials’ six-game winning streak both started on January 12 with the Wright State Raiders and had it end with the exact same opponent this afternoon as the green and gold were down by 10 halfway through the second half, but they still completed a huge comeback and sent the fans home happy with a big-time 67-64 win at the Nutter Center.

In the first half, WSU only trailed RMU 13-11 following a trey-ball from Solomon Callaghan. But the Colonials then scored six unanswered points to go up 19-11 thanks to a layup from Ismael Plet, a dunk from Amarion Dickerson, and a mid-range shot from Kam Woods. However, Clint Sargent’s Raiders scored 10 of the next 12 points to make it a 22-21 deficit starting with Alex Huibregtse and Kam Woods trading three-balls.

Then came six unanswered WSU points courtesy of a three from Andrew Welage, a free throw from Andrea Holden, and a three-point play from Brandon Noel. The lead kept changing hands and Wright State was up 31-29, but the Colonials scored five unanswered points following a Ryan Prather Jr. layup and three combined made free throws from Kam Woods and D.J. Smith to take the 34-31 lead. Smith then fouled Keaton Norris on a three-point try from the corner, and Norris tied it up at 34 with a trio of foul shots before Smith made a layup at the other end as RMU went into the locker room with a 36-34.

In the second half, Jack Doumbia gave WSU the 43-42 lead on a layup before Robert Morris went on a 12-2 run and took a 55-45 with 10:47 to go with a Kam Woods three, a layup from Alvaro Folgueiras, another layup from Dickerson, another three from Prather Jr., and a three-point play from Kam Woods. Wright State then went on a 10-2 run with another Callaghan three, a Noel layup, a Logan Woods three, and another layup by Michael Imariagbe to make it a 57-55 game.

RMU then went on a 9-1 run to make it 64-56 with a free throw from Plet, a trey from Smith, and a three-point play from Dickerson with 2:40 to go. However, WSU’s comeback trail would start thanks to free throws by Norris, a layup from Noel, and a big-time three from Huibregtse to make it a 64-63 deficit with 1:54 left. The game was scoreless from that point until Welage faked a three and hit a go-ahead jumper in the paint to make it 65-64 WSU with 11.6 to go. After a timeout, Kam Woods took it to the cup and missed a layup before Doumbia grabbed the rebound, got fouled by Dickerson with a half-second to go, and hit a pair of free throws to put the cream cheese on the bagel.

The Raiders (12-12, 6-7 Horizon) were led by Noel, was the only Raider that scored in double-figures with 17 points on 7-of-16 field goal attempts along with only four rebounds. Also, nine points and five rebounds off the bench from Imariagbe, and eight points each from Callahan and Welage.

Wright State shot only 40.4 percent overall from the field (23-of-57), but they made an efficient 50 percent of their threes (8-of-16) and a solid 70.6 percent of their free throws (10-of-16).

Robert Morris (16-8, 7-5 Horizon) made 46.2 percent of their overall shots (24-of-52), 41.2 percent of their three-pointers (7-of-17), and 56.3 percent of their free throws (9-of-16). Kam Woods led all scorers with 22 points (13 in the first half) on 8-of-20 shots from the field, followed by 17 points and seven rebounds from Dickerson.

Up next: Wright State will head out back on the road for a midweek battle to face the Purdue-Fort Wayne Mastodons on Wednesday, February 5 at 7ET/6CT. The last time these two squads met was on January 15 at the Nutter Center in which the Mastodons won in a thrilling 120-113 showdown that went to double overtime.

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