The streaking Robert Morris men’s basketball team returns to the hardwood Wednesday, Feb. 25, to take on Detroit Mercy in a Horizon League matchup at 7 p.m. at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township.
Detroit comes into the contest with an overall record of 14-13 and 11-7 in Horizon League action. Orlando Lovejoy leads the Titans in scoring with an average of 14 points per game and TJ Nadeau comes in shooting 47% from 3-point range.
The Colonials and Titans are tied for third place and battling for conference tournament positioning, while riding five- and four-game win streaks, respectively.
Robert Morris will be looking for its 20th win of the regular season; the Colonials are currently 19-10 overall and 11-7 in league play.
The Colonials picked up that 11th league win Sunday when they traveled to Dayton, Ohio, and came away with an impressive 81-68 victory over first-place Wright State.
RMU came out with a plan to use the inside game and scored 20 of its first 26 points in that manner. The Colonials’ defense was also stifling, which resulted in the Raiders having shooting woes, and RMU took a 39-29 halftime lead.
The Colonials extended the lead to 14 points early in the second half, but Wright State whittled the lead down to five points at the 7-minute mark. Robert Morris had an incredible shooting day, connecting on 53% of its shots from the field, 44% from the arc and going 16 for 17 from the free-throw line, which culminated in a 16-point RMU lead late in the game and a 13-point margin of victory.
Darius Livingston had a career- and game-high of 24 points for RMU, while Nikolaos Chitikoudis scored 17 and added nine rebounds. DeSean Goode had another double-digit scoring game with 16 points and Ta’Zir Smith chipped in an additional 15 points.
RMU coach Andy Toole liked what he saw from his team on both ends of the court Sunday.
“The defense stood up for 40 minutes and was probably our most consistent defense for the entire season,” he said. “And Darius (Livingston) was phenomenal — he was awesome all night. We’ve just got to get back to work when we go back to Pittsburgh, and we’ve got to get ready for Wednesday night.”
Michael Cooper had 19 points for Wright State, which is now 18-11 overall and 13-5 in the Horizon League.
RMU women loses momentum by dropping game to Oakland
The Robert Morris women’s basketball team will play its last regular-season game at 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, against Wright State at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township.
Wright State, 10-19 overall and 6-12 in the Horizon League play, is led by Breezie Williams, who averages 13 points per game. The Colonials, 17-11 overall and 10-9 in league play, will be looking to sweep the series after defeating the Raiders, 74-53, in Ohio, on Jan. 24.
Robert Morris will be looking to bounce back to its winning ways after a 71-61 upset loss Saturday to the University of Oakland. The Colonials played well in the first half, as they strung together several small runs to take a 10-point lead and owned an eight-point lead at halftime, 30-22.
The second half was a different story as Oakland, led by a game-high 31 points from Makenzie Luehring, came back and took its first lead of 40-38 at the 4:50 mark. The Colonials kept the game close but shot only 28% from the field for the game.
The Grizzlies went on a 9-3 run in the latter portion of the game, which was the difference and gave Oakland the win.
Eva Livingston had a great game for RMU, shooting 81% from the floor and scoring 21 points. Aislin Malcom added 12 points for the Colonials and Bailey Kuhns scored 11. Oakland is 10-18 overall and 7-11 in the Horizon League.
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