Colonials Corner

Mike Rice shook up his lineup, benched his star forward, and still couldn’t come up with the right combination for a Robert Morris win.

The Colonials committed 19 turnovers – including 7 on their first 9 possessions – and saw a comeback fizzle short again as they lost to Kent State 71-57.

Robert Morris played without senior forward Rob Robinson, who served a team-imposed one game suspension for what was described as “conduct detrimental to the team.” Robinson’s absence, and perhaps the team’s poor play of late, forced a new look starting lineup to take the floor. Freshman Brad Piehl started in Robinson’s place, while Velton Jones and Mezie Nwigwe also found themselves on the bench. Rice started the game with Piehl, Dallas Green, and Russell Johnson up front and Jimmy Langhurst joined by Gary Wallace in the backcourt.

Freshman Karon Abraham had 13 points to lead RMU, while Johnson chipped in 11. Ten Colonials played (all but Robinson, Khalif Foster, and freshman Coron Williams), and all played at least 15 minutes.

RMU eventually pulled within a basket in the second half but couldn’t find a way to get on top. As Rice told Jim Equels, Jr. of the Beaver County Times: ““This team has to find ways to be successful. We’re not there yet. Besides the turnovers, I still like what we did. We just have to find some consistency. This team is very fragile right now.”

For more, here’s Equels’ coverage at the Times, Michael Sanserino’s coverage at the Post-Gazette, and Paul Schofield’s coverage at the Tribune-Review.

The box score is after the jump.