Colonials roll past Sacred Heart, 5-0 in NEC play

RMU moved to 5-0 in NEC play, back to .500 at 10 and 10 overall, with a 91-65 win over Sacred Heart on Thursday night, a surprising result given the news that broke just before tip off.

RMU, who was already without Mike McFadden and Juanie Newton due to personal decisions, was without Jeremiah Worthem and Britton Lee Thursday night due to a violation of university rules. Still no word on how long they will be out.

Stewart played his best game in a RMU uniform with
multiple players suspended. 

With two walk-ons suspended as well, likely due to the same violation/situation the Colonials only had eight players available.

It didn't matter, at least not Thursday night.

The Colonials did whatever, whenever they wanted to. Every player scored, and the defense was suffocating despite the lack of bodies.

Stephan Hawkins got the Colonials started, scoring five of the Colonials first seven points, and controlling the paint, not allowing Sacred Heart second chance points, something they lived off of in the teams first match up. From there, the rest of the team took over.

Hawk finished with a career high 12 points and four rebounds.

Karvel Anderson continued his strong play, scoring 15 points and not forcing his shot as the Pioneers were focused on him. He did drop 36 on them a few weeks ago.

Lucky Jones once again did it all, tallying another double-double with 18 and 11. He once again did it all, showing why he is deserving of an All-NEC first team selection.

Chuck Oliver (13 points), David Appolon (5 points), Aaron Tate (6 points, 4 rebounds), Ant Myers Pate (11 points, 4 assists) all chipped in there points and played strong D. The team really couldn't have played any better given the situation, leading by 30 for most of the second half.

Hawk stepped up big time on
Thursday night (p/c RMU Sentry).

To go along with Hawkins, freshman Kavon Stewart played maybe his best game in a Colonials uniform, more on his performance later.

Stewart finished with 11 points five assists.

The win moved Robert Morris to 5-0 in NEC play. RMU has started 5-0 just twice, in 05-06 and 90-91. The Colonials have never started 6-0.

Next up, RMU has two HUGE home games, starting with Wagner Saturday (and then Bryant Thursday). The Seahawks were upset by CCSU Thursday night, so first place won't be on the line, but this is still a big one. The status of Worthem and Lee is still unknown, but there is a solid chance RMU may once again be with only eight players.

--Lee Kunkel
--@Kunkel5