If there’s one thing that Robert Morris basketball can claim in a season that its wrestled with finding a true identity, it’s that the Colonials have had a flair for the dramatic as of late.
After a sluggish 2-8 start, the Colonials have rattled off five wins in nine games and it was ignited by an 18-point comeback against Saint Francis with a triple by Justice Williams with two seconds left to seal the game.
It was only the second Division I win at that point of the season for the Colonials, and they certainly made it interesting, but ultimately found a way to pull it out in the end.
Now, the Colonials are amidst a stretch where they have played in back-to-back overtime games for the first time since February of 2021 where they competed in three consecutive overtime contests, including a matchup against Oakland where a second extra frame was needed. That was the most recent double-overtime game until Wednesday night.
The double-overtime win on Wednesday over a team that had yet to clinch a victory this season came off the heels of a heart-pulsing overtime win against Purdue Fort Wayne that needed a buzzer beating shot from Markeese Hastings to end it.
They haven’t been pretty, but without a doubt, they have been entertaining.
“We’ve lost a number of close games previously. At this point, I really don’t care how we get them, whether it’s overtime or regulation. We just want to be one point better,” head coach Andy Toole said.
Three points was enough to finally withstand one of just two teams that remained winless across the NCAA in Detroit Mercy.
“Last game was obviously crazy,” Markeese Hastings said. “We come into today’s game, started out a little slow, but I feel like everybody had the same mindset to build on last game. We just kept fighting and we ended up doing it again. Double overtime. Crazy, but we ended up doing it again.”
One night, the Colonials are making SportsCenter Top 10 for all the right reasons thanks to Hastings. Days later, they were almost in the press for the opposite.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
“It was definitely at the back of our mind because we don’t want to be that team to give them their first win,” TJ Wainwright said following the double-overtime win. “I feel like it’s a little more added pressure towards us because we can make headlines if we lose this game. Not the ones we want. [Hastings] was on ESPN last week for hitting a buzzer beater. We could have lost this game and been on ESPN again for giving them their first win.”
Nearing seven minutes left, the Titans looked as if they had a stranglehold on the game and would walk away with their first win after Jayden Stone picked up a loose rebound and ran the court with an aggressive take and finish. The 11-point lead was the largest for the Titans.
Then, the theatrics heightened when Andy Toole received a technical foul arguing a hook and hold call on Josh Corbin with less than five minutes to go in regulation.
“I kind of got frustrated because I thought we had no life. I thought we were going in this review cycle, and I got a little bit of fed up with it. I’m not taking a little bit of credit, but I felt like we had a sense of urgency after that,” Toole said.
A 10-0 run was exactly the response that Toole was looking for from his team. It also helped that Wainwright nearly single-handily carried the Colonials into overtime with a crucial crossover three that put his team ahead for the first time in 15 minutes.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Wainwright mounted an incredible surge late in the contest that saw him drop 16 points in the late stages of regulation through the two overtime periods, and he was a believer that the Colonials could pull it out.
“I’m telling the guys that we are still winning this game,” he said. “We are not going to be on headlines. We’re going to win this game. Manifesting that and pumping it into the guys, that energy was able to get back to me in a positive way and I was able to hit those shots.”
Continuing his career night, the sophomore hit a 3-pointer and a key mid-range jumper in the first overtime and then added five more in the second session, including three points from the free throw line on a night where he was a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe.
At the end of the night, the performance at the stripe may have been the deciding factor, especially with RMU hitting 36 of 40 shot with Hastings knocking down all 17 attempts. He came into the matchup hovering around the 60 percent mark from the chalk.
“This year, I started out kind’ve bad at the free throw line. I was going through a long stretch where I couldn’t hit a free throw. I would miss three in a row and then make one. Coach Toole on the sidelines just trying to cheer me on and being the good coach that he is. I feel like I stuck with it and now I got my mind in the right spot when I go to the line,” Hastings said.
Thanks to career days from Wainwright with 30 points and Hastings with his own 31, the Colonials staved off the potential of a brutal letdown, and now that schedule does not get any easier with a team that’s looking for revenge up next on the docket.
While the Colonials and Titans went to extra time, IUPUI took care of Purdue Fort Wayne on the road for just its second Horizon League win.
Two weeks ago, the Colonials drilled 61.3 percent of their shots and hit nine triples in a dominating win over the Jaguars.
“One of the last things we said as we left the locker room was IUPUI just beat Fort Wayne,” Toole said. “You think they’re not going to remember what happened they came here last time. What scares me the most is, that’s going to motivate them and that’s going to make us fat and happy.”
