ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. -- For the first time this season Trinity International held a halftime lead over a nationally-ranked opponent, but a cold stretch in the closing minutes was too much to overcome, as the Trojans suffered a 85-68 road loss to No. 17 Robert Morris inside the RMU Athletic Center on Friday night.

The Trojans went the final six and a half minutes without a field goal, as RMU finished on a 15-4 run over that span to earn their seventh win in as many meetings with TIU.

TIU finished even with the Eagles in the turnover battle, with both sides committing 15 errors apiece; the Trojans also narrowly out-rebounded RMU, 43-42 on the night.

Senior Justin Peeples led the Trojans with 19 points, as five players finished in double figures. Senior Nate Ball and junior James Glass came up just short of recording double-doubles, with nine rebounds each, and 10 and 11 points, respectively.

After the Eagles jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first three and a half minutes, Thomas Amrine brought his team back with three three-pointers in a 90-second span, making it a one-point, 16-15 Eagle lead. Trinity kept close, never falling behind by more than seven points in the first half, and closed on a 9-2 run, as David Chatman's layup with 44 seconds left put TIU ahead at the break, 42-40.

A pair of free throws from Ball at the start of the half gave the Trojans their biggest lead of the game, 44-40 with 19:13 remaining. The Eagles responded with eight straight points to move back in front, but Trinity would again hang around and keep things close, as the lead changed hands four more times in the second half.

Trinity's offense slowed after Glass scored with 6:36 on the clock, making it a 70-64 Robert Morris lead. Other than two sets of free throws, the Trojans would be kept off the scoreboard the rest of the way as Robert Morris pulled away.

"We did some really good things tonight, especially in the first half," said TIU head coach Boomer Roberts after the game. "We had silly errors at the wrong times that ultimately bit us. It's very difficults to beat a team as talented as RMU on the road when you don't play well for 40 minutes."

"We need to learn from it and put it behind us quickly, because we play again in 18 hours," Roberts said. "I am confident that with the character we have, we will respond well on the road tomorrow."

Trinity International gets right back into the mix tomorrow afternoon, when they travel to Indiana-Northwest for a non-conference matchup, starting at 3:00 p.m. A live webcast will be available, at IUNRedhawkAthletics.com