MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.  (Feb. 9, 2011) – Robert Morris held the Saint Francis men's basketball team to just three 3-point field goals over the final 9:35 in building a double digit lead to hand the Red Flash their fourth straight loss, 78-68, on Wednesday night at the Sewall Center.

 

SFU hit a season-high 14 three-point field goals, and shot 51.9 percent from outside the arc, but it wasn't enough as the Colonials hit on 25-of-33 (.758) free throw attempts and 24-of-46 (.522) field goal attempts. RMU held a 39-19 advantage on the glass.

 

The two teams will continue a home-and-home series with a rare 8:30 p.m. start on Saturday night at DeGol Arena. The Red Flash fell to 7-17 overall, and 5-8 in the Northeast Conference. Robert Morris improved to 11-13 overall, and 7-6 in the league.

 

Sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) paced all scorers with 23 points, including a career-tying five trifectas, and sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists before fouling out with 5:54 remaining. Sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) added 11 points, 5 assists and 2 steals.

 

Karon Abraham had 20 points and 4 rebounds for the Colonials, while Lijah Thompson and Velton Jones had 16 points each.

 

“Robert Morris' dribble penetration and rebounding beat us,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “We have to do a better job in both of these areas on Saturday night in order to come out of DeGol Arena with a win.”

The Colonials took a 49-38 lead on an Abraham 3-pointer, but SFU reeled off a 13-2 run to tie the game for the first time, 51-51, with 13:00 to go. But two empty Red Flash possessions and seven straight Jones points made it 58-51.

 

However, Saint Francis again answered, this time with an 8-0 run, to take its first lead of the game. Shannon hit a 3-pointer and a terrific catch-and-shoot jumper on back-to-back trips down the floor, and Johnson hit a long ball from the corner in front of the SFU bench to make it 59-58 with 9:35 remaining.

 

It was the only lead of the game for the Red Flash as Robert Morris answered with a 13-0 run over the next 3:41 to take control with a 71-59 lead.

 

Shannon hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 71-62 and SFU forced a turnover, but turned it over on offense with 4:33 left. Jones made a pair of free throws at the other end to give the Colonials a 73-62 lead with 4:16 to go, while Shannon hit another trifecta to cut it to 73-65 with 3:53 remaining.

 

Johnson came down with a big rebound at the other end, and freshman Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) made a layup and appeared to draw a foul to cut it to 73-67 and an upcoming attempt at a 3-point play with 2:46 remaining. However, the basket was waived off and Eatherton was called for the foul. Instead, Thompson made a pair of free throws at the other end to make it 75-65 with 2:27 left.

 

Saint Francis hit seven first half 3-pointers, but trailed the whole way as the Colonials hit on 61.9 percent of their field goal attempts to take a 41-34 lead into halftime.

 

Robert Morris had a 20-8 advantage on the boards in the first 20 minutes, and hit on 13-of-16 free throw attempts (.813).

 

Felder led the Red Flash with 10 points and 2 rebounds, while Johnson had 6 points, 3 assists and 1 steal.

 

Abraham paced the Colonials with 13 points, and Thompson added 8 at the break.

 

For periodic men's basketball updates on Twitter, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert at SFUVolkert.