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The Saint Vincent men held the lead for much of the first half, but NCAA Division I Robert Morris University overpowered SVC in the end, 78-61.

Sharp shooting Matty McConnell lived up to his billing with a 24-point performance to lead the Colonials, but the Bearcats were boosted by an impressive collegiate debut for freshman Shemar Bennett, who scored 16 points off the bench for Saint Vincent.

McConnell attempted to set the tone early, hitting a three pointer to open scoring.  Tom Kromka gave the Bearcats their first lead of the game, 4-3, at the 17:35 mark, but the next four points belonged to the Colonials, making their first visit to the Robert S. Carey Center.  

Down 7-4, the Bearcats then went on a 10-point run over the next four minutes.  Bennett tallied the first five points, followed by an Austin Dedert layup in traffic that made it 11-7.  Jason Capco hit a three to make the score 14-7.  After a Colonial free throw, Capco drained another three to extend the lead to 17-8. 

After a three by Jon Williams of RMU, Kromka tallied four straight points for the Bearcats.  Dedert later came up with a block and hit a pair of free throws to make it a 24-11 game.  Matt D'Amico followed with a block of his own, and Dedert later took a charge as the Bearcat defense controlled the Colonials.  However, a technical foul on the Bearcats with the score 25-13 seemed to turn the tide at the 4:35 mark.

Robert Morris hit both free throws, the start of a 19-0 run over the remainder of the first half, going into the break with a 32-25 lead.

Early in the second, Capco tallied five points, to make it a two point game, 32-30, but it was as close as the Bearcats could get.

Midway through the half, the Bearcats were down 13 (56-43), and went on a seven point run.  After a free throw, Coy Patterson Jr hit a jumper at the 10-minute mark, followed by a pair of Collin Neville free throws.  The Bearcats went to the press and forced a turnover on the inbound pass, and Bennett scored on a layup to make it 56-50 before the Colonials regained their momentum and went on to the victory.

McConnell led all scorers on the night on 7-14 shooting and added six steals.  Malik Petteway had 10 rebounds for RMU, tops in the game. 

For the Bearcats, Bennett was a perfect 7-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the free throw line for his 16 points.  Capco added 14 points, while Kromka had 12.  David Stephen led the team with five rebounds, while Patterson had three steals.  

SVC shot 46.3% from the floor, while Robert Morris hit 41.1% of their shots.  The physical contest led to three Colonials fouling out of the game in the second half.

The Bearcats will travel to California for another exhibition contest, Friday night, November 3 at Santa Clara, a NCAA-I team.  Tipoff will be 10PM Eastern.