The Mount St. Mary's men's basketball team started cold on offense in Thursday night's game against Robert Morris, but the Mountaineers survived long enough to hold the halftime lead.

The Mount did the same thing in the second half, and this time found itself trailing by double digits. Once again, the Mount withstood the struggles and saved a little defense for down the stretch.

Robert Morris certainly helped the home team's cause with a woeful final few minutes of its own, which proved to be the difference in Mount St. Mary's 48-47 win at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg.

The Mount (10-12, 8-1 Northeast Conference) didn't score a point over the final 3:09. But the Colonials (7-15, 3-6) dried up on offense, too, and totaled three points over the final 8:45.

Junior Robinson had a game-high 18 points for the Mountaineers, while Elijah Long (John Carroll) scored nine points and Chris Wray had eight points to go with four blocks and four steals.

“Games in the NEC, they're going to be like this,” said Mount coach Jamion Christian, whose team scored its fewest points in a win this year. “Especially as you get to the latter part of the schedule. ... Just happy with our team finding a way to grind it out.”

Isaiah Still had 14 points and Stewart finished with 13 for Robert Morris.

“Offensive wasn't rolling today but we got the ‘Mayhem' going, 25 turnovers,” Christian said. “Found a way at the end to make the right play.”

Wray agreed that Thursday's win was “ugly,” but that's what is needed, sometimes, at this stage of the season.

Mount St. Mary's won its sixth in a row and ninth in the past 10 games, and remained tied for first in the NEC. Fairleigh Dickinson is also 8-1 in conference play, but the Mountaineers have the tiebreaker by virtue of their win over the Knights on Jan. 12.

Thursday's game marked the start of four home games in a row, and it was nationally televised on CBS Sports Network. Knott Arena was filled to near capacity, and Christian said his players might have perhaps felt a little pressure with such a “juiced” environment.

“It was ugly,” Wray said. “But we won. I feel like, for myself, it's a lot of stuff I need to clean up.”

Women

No. 3 Maryland 94, Illinois 49: Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 14 points for the visiting Terps (20-1, 8-0 Big Ten), who shot 43 percent from the field in overwhelming the Illini (8-13, 3-5).

Maryland got off to a quick start in the first quarter when Illinois went on a 5:28 scoring drought and Maryland had a 14-0 run, never giving up the lead.

Much of the success came down in the post, where Maryland outrebounded Illinois 61-34, won the second-chance points battle 25-9 and scored more points in the paint 44-22.

Maryland received a full team performance, with no player who played in the game scoring fewer than five points. Thursday's performance encouraged coach Brenda Frese about her team's postseason future.

“It's a championship mentality,” Frese said. “When everyone is playing with that type of energy, it continues to show what type of team this is.”

Alex Wittinger led Illinois with 21 points.

Maryland's bench outscored the Illini's 47-2. Kiah Gillespie led the reserves with nine points and five rebounds.

“It helped with our bench providing so much energy,” Terps center Brionna Jones (Aberdeen) said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.