Men's Basketball Finishes Season With 90-74 Loss at Robert Morris

(boxscore)

2/26/07 -- Robert Morris broke open a tie midway through the second half and pulled away from Long Island to claim a 90-74 win in men’s basketball action on Monday night at the Sewall Center. Senior James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) scored a team-high 24 points and had six assists, but it was not enough as LIU needed a win to remain in contention for the Northeast Conference Tournament.

Four-straight foul shots from Williams tied the game at 59-59 with 9:28 to play, erasing an 11-point deficit, but Long Island managed just two field goals the rest of the game. Jeremy Chappell broke the tie with a layup and a trifecta from A.J. Jackson capped a seven-point spurt that gave RMU the lead for good at 66-59.

A three-pointer from senior Evan Meekins (East Providence, R.I.) cut the deficit to 66-62 with just under seven minutes to play, but that was as close as the Blackbirds got the rest of the way. RMU pushed the lead to 82-68 before junior Eugene Kotorobai (Richmond Hill, Ontario) hit a trifecta with 1:34 to play. That was LIU’s last field goal and RMU’s Derek Coleman hit eight foul shots down the stretch to seal the win.

The Blackbirds scored the first four points of the game before the Colonials responded with an 11-0 run highlighted by eight points from Jackson. LIU came back with a 14-2 run of its own, getting seven points from Williams including a three-pointer to go ahead 15-13. A trifecta from Kotorobai capped the run and pushed LIU’s lead to 18-13 midway through the opening stanza.

LIU managed to push the lead to as much as eight on another three-pointer from Kotorobai, but Jeremy Chappell and Jackson brought RMU back and a three-pointer from Colson Senat made it 30-28. Kotorobai gave the Blackbirds the lead with his third three-pointer of the half, but the Colonials managed to take a 37-33 lead into the locker room.

The Colonials came out of the break and got a pair of three-pointers from Coleman and a layup from Jackson to push the lead to 52-41 with 16:20 to play. LIU got six points from Kotorobai and four from Williams to help get within three points, before a layup from Tyrone Mattison (Toronto, Ontario) made it a one-point game and Paska Morkeliunas (Kaunas, Lithuania) gave LIU it’s only lead of the second half with a pair of foul shots to make it 55-54.

Long Island hit 40.0 percent from the three-point arc on the night, led by Kotorobai who hit five threes and had 22 points and nine rebounds. Mattison chipped in with 11 points off the bench. LIU hit 26-of-31 from the foul line, but shot just 33.3 percent from the floor on the night.

Jackson led all players with 34 points and 12 rebounds, while Coleman added 21 points and Chappell had 15 points. RMU shot 51.6 percent as a team and was 18-of-19 from the foul line.

Long Island finishes the season with a 10-19 record overall and 6-12 in the Northeast Conference.