A seemingly comfortable lead in the standings late in the schedule offered Wright State some hope at a chance of clinching the Horizon League’s regular-season championship Sunday before a festive senior day crowd.
Not so fast. Robert Morris had others ideas: Sweep the Raiders and keep alive its chances for a share of first place and a No. 1 seed in the Horizon Tournament.
And the Colonials did.
Darius Livingston scored a career-high 24 points, including six 3-point shots, to lead RMU to an 81-68 victory at Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio, completing a home-and-home sweep of Wright State for the Colonials’ sixth consecutive victory and eighth in 10 games.
Robert Morris (19-10, 11-7) moved into a second-place tie with Detroit Mercy in the bunched-up Horizon League standings, two games behind conference-leading Wright State with two games left in the regular season.
Both are at home Wednesday against Detroit Mercy and Saturday against Cleveland State.
Robert Morris built a 39-29 halftime lead and kept a comfortable margin into the second half before Wright State used an 11-2 run to close within 57-52 with 7 minutes, 14 seconds left.
Robert Morris responded with a 7-2 run to push the lead back to double digits with 4:49 to play. The Colonials steadily pulled away down the stretch, leading by as many as 16 points.
Livingston, the Horizon Freshman of the Week the past two times, shot 9 for 12 overall and made 6 of 7 from behind the arc, including one in the final minute with the shot clock about to expire after the Colonials had played keep-away to chew up time.
Nikolaos Chitikoudis added 17 points and nine rebounds, DeSean Goode finished with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Ta’Zir Smith tallied 13 for Robert Morris. The Colonials shot 53% (44% from 3-point range).
Michael Cooper led Wright State (18-11, 13-5) with 19 points. T.J. Burch added 11, and Andrea Holden chipped in 10 for the Raiders, who play their final two games on the road.