Youngstown, Ohio – The Youngstown State men's basketball team erased an 11-point halftime deficit and built a nine-point second-half lead but suffered a 72-66 setback to Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon at Zidian Family Arena.
The Penguins fall to 12-13 overall and 5-9 in the Horizon League while the Colonials improve to 16-10 overall and 8-7 in the league.
Senior Cris Carroll scored 13 of his team-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Penguins while Bryson Dawkins poured in 16 points and Tae Blackshear added 12 points with four 3-pointers.
DeSean Goode led Robert Morris with 24 points while Ryan Prather, Jr. added 16 points with six assists.
The Penguins scored the 16 of the first 18 points, including a 10-0 run, over the first seven minutes of the second half to turn a 41-30 halftime deficit into a 46-43 lead with 12:57 remaining. A 3-pointer by Carroll and a fast-break dunk by Dawkins cut the RMU lead to six, 41-35, and a three-point play by Carroll brought the Penguins within three, 43-40 with 16:30 to go.
A layup by Dawkins cut the lead to one, and Jason Nelson's driving layup at the 15:00 mark gave the Penguins their first lead, 44-43, since the 13:23 mark of the first half at 17-14. A driving layup by Carroll gave the Penguins a three-point edge.
After basket by Goode and a putback by Imanuel Zorgvol, Blackshear buried consecutive 3s in a span of 33 seconds to boost the Penguins' advantage to nine, 54-45, at the 10:22 mark.
Blackshear connected on his third 3-pointer at the 8:06 mark to stretch the YSU lead to eight, 57-49, after a pair of RMU baskets.
The Colonials responded with a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to regain a 61-57 lead at the 4:02 mark, and they led 64-59 following a 3-pointer by Kaleb Brown with 3:14 left.
Three free throws by Carroll made it a two-point game, 64-62 with 1:18 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Goode and a three-point play by Prather with under a minute left sealed the game for the Colonials.
The team's fought through six ties and four lead changes during the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game. A Blackshear 3 put gave the Penguins a 17-14 lead at the 13:23 mark but RMU's Brown knotted the game at 17-17 with his own 3 at the 12:24 mark.
Robert Morris went on a 15-6 run over a seven-minute span to boost its lead to nine, 32-23, and after a Carroll basket trim the lead to six, 34-28, the Colonials closed out the half scoring seven of the next nine points for the 11-point halftime lead.
Youngstown State visits Oakland, Thursday, Feb. 12. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the O'Rena in Rochester, Mich.
