The Robert Morris men’s basketball team will look to make it a weekend sweep when it takes on Oakland at 3 p.m. Sunday in a Horizon League matchup in Rochester, Minn.
The Colonials, 11-5 overall and 3-2 in league play, started the new year with a 58-point second-half outburst to trigger an 85-77 victory over host Detroit Mercy Friday night.
DeSean Goode scored 18 points for Robert Morris, making 6-of-8 field goals and converting all three of his 3-point attempts, while also recording two steals. Ryan Prather added 16 points and made eight of his nine free-throw attempts. Nikolaos Chitikoudis collected 10 rebounds and scored 13 points, marking his fifth double-double this season. Kaleb Brown contributed five assists.
Detroit Mercy led 32-27 at halftime, but the Colonials outscored the Titans 58-45 in the final 20 minutes, converting 17 of 27 field goals, including five 3-pointers, and missed just one of its 20 free-throw attempts.
Prather’s 3-pointer at 12:35 gave RMU the lead at 46-44 and another one at 7:06 propelled the Colonials to their largest lead of the game – 12 points at 65-53. The Titans made it a one-possession contest inside a minute, but Prather iced the game with a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left.
RMU coach Andy Toole said starting the road trip with a win was big, particularly after his team’s loss on Monday night.
“Being down 32-27 at the half isn’t the prettiest, but it keeps you in the mix,” Toole said of his team’s performance Friday night. “And then to be able to come out and have your offense catch a little fire in that second half was critical.”
RMU women take on Green Bay Sunday
The Colonial women also opened their new year with a victory, downing Milwaukee, 62-52, Friday on the road to improve to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in league play going into Sunday’s 2 p.m. meeting at Green Bay.
RMU’s Aislin Malcom led all scorers with 18 points in Friday’s win, going 6-for-8 from the free-throw stripe. Malcolm also recorded four rebounds and two assists in the win. Sophomore Myriam Traore recorded her first double-double as a Colonial, putting up 14 points and grabbing 10 boards in 34 minutes of action. Traore also recorded three steals and an assist. Jada Lee (11) and Bailey Kuhns (10) were the other Colonials to score in double-digits on the night.
The Colonials closed out the game on a 13-3 run over the final seven minutes to secure the win.
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