MOON TWP, Pa. — After a nine-day break in action, the Robert Morris (7-5) basketball team got back into it on Tuesday night and looked to snap their three-game losing skid against the Towson Tigers (4-8). For the 20 minutes, it looked as if the Colonials were going to get blown out in route to their fourth-straight loss but two separate second-half comebacks vaulted the Colonials to a thrilling 68-67 victory over the Tigers.
“I just hope [our players] can remember what it takes,” Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole said about what he hopes this win can do for his team. “As you go through the year and your career, especially as a coach, you build up scar tissue. Like stuff that never goes away and you try to impose that on your teams. … Sometimes you need a couple things like this to go in your favor so that you can sit there and say, ‘See, this is what we are talking about. This is how it has to be done.'”
The Colonials found themselves down 7-2 early after Tyler Tejada followed a pair of free throws from Messiah Jones with a deep jumper and a three-pointer. That deficit would only grow as the Tigers pushed it to a 10-point advantage just after the first media timeout.
Tejada shot lights out in the first half as he scored 21 of his game-high 26 points in the period. He matched the Colonials field goals in the half as he shot 9-of-12 from the field compared to the Colonials’ 9-of-26.
The Colonials got it as close as a seven-point game after Ryan Prather Jr. came off of the bench and knocked down the Colonials first three of the evening. The Colonials started the game 0-of-5 from that range.
After Prather’s triple made the score 14-7 in favor of the Tigers, the teams would trade buckets until the under-eight media timeout. Following the media stoppage, the Tigers offense exploded and extended their lead to 34-16.
The Colonials outscored the Tigers 8-6 to close the half but still trailed 40-24 at the break. That is when a stern halftime message from Andy Toole set the Colonials straight and helped them come out of the break with a positive attitude and mindset.
“I thought Towson took it to us in that first half in every way. Offensively, defensively, on the glass, emotionally, in every single way,” Toole said about his halftime message. “I basically just said that at some point in time, as a player, you have to step up and play. We have these offensive sets and defensive coverages but sometimes it just comes down to being able to go out and play the game within the context of that.”
The Colonials trailed by 16 points at the half but a 24-7 run to start the second half pulled Robert Morris right back into the game and helped them claim their first lead of the night which came on a triple from Prather Jr. at the 12:51 mark of the second half.
Following Prather Jr.’s three, the Tigers stormed back with a 13-2 run themselves to re-claim a double-digit lead but the Colonials refused to go away.
They battled all the way back again to trail by just three with over two minutes to go and eventually re-claimed the lead for themselves on a tough, contested jumper by Kam Woods with 10.3 seconds left in the game which proved to be the game-winner.
“The defensive intensity in the second half, the urgency in the second half, the ability to attack and get the ball to the paint, make some of the right plays, step up and make big shots was critical,” Toole said about what changed in the second half. “Obviously, we challenged them at halftime and they responded incredibly well.”
Josh Omojafo led the Colonials scoring efforts as he ended the contest with 15 points. Amarion Dickerson finished second on the team with 12 points while Woods added 10 points including his game-winner.
Tejada finished as the game’s leading scorer with 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting including 3-of-3 from three-point range. Jones ended the game as the Tigers’ second leading scorer with 8 points.
Now carrying some positive momentum, the Colonials play their last game before the holidays on Saturday when Saint Francis comes to the UPMC Events Center for another non-conference showdown.
