On a day when one of their former men’s basketball players was charged with taking part in a massive betting scheme, the Robert Morris Colonials hoped to remain focused on their Horizon League game Thursday night at IU Indianapolis.
It took overtime at The Jungle in Indianapolis before the Colonials came up short against IU Indy, which earned its first league victory of the season, 96-93, at the expense of the defending Horizon champs.
Jaxon Edwards posted 25 points and 12 rebounds to power the high-scoring Jaguars (5-15, 1-8), who ended their six-game losing streak. Kyle D’Augustino led IU Indy in scoring with 28 points.
Robert Morris (11-8, 3-5), which committed 18 turnovers in losing its third consecutive game and fourth in the past five, was led by Ryan Prather Jr.’s 21 points, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
DeSean Goode, an IU Indy transfer, added 20 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds for RMU.
“You’ve got a 10-point lead to start the game, a 12-point lead with (approximately) 17 minutes to go in the second half. Just unable to sustain our effort,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said during RMU’s postgame broadcast. “Just unable to defend the ball without fouling. Give credit to IU Indy. They’ve been close before. Obviously, they’re hungrier and grittier and tougher and more in tune and connected than we are.”
D’Augustino’s two free throws with 3 minutes, 13 seconds left in overtime broke an 84-84 tie and gave IU Indy the lead for good.
Robert Morris pulled within 88-87 on a Ta’Zir Smith 3-point shot, but IU Indy held on for just its third victory in 10 meetings with RMU.
D’Augustino’s basket with 17 seconds left in regulation tied the score at 81-81, and the teams went to overtime after Albert Vargas’ jumper in the lane for Robert Morris was off the mark as time expired.
Micah Davis added 13 points and Aiden Miller finished with 12 for IU Indy, which entered the night with the Horizon’s top scoring offense (84.9 ppg).
It marked the seventh game of at least 90 points for for the Jaguars, including a season-opening 118-102 loss at Ohio State.
IU Indy used a 12-0 first-half run to turn a 10-point deficit into a 17-15 lead before Robert Morris regrouped and led 41-38 at halftime.
A 9-0 run early in the second half sent Robert Morris to a 52-40 lead with 16:54 remaining.
IU Indy scratched back to go in front 65-64 on a basket by D’Augustino, then neither team led by more than five points during the rest of regulation.
“In the last two weeks, 80% of our practices have been focused on defense, and our defense is only getting worse,” Toole said. “I don’t know what the answer is. A month ago, I thought we had a really connected team and guys that were really coming together and growing as a group. Since we’ve come back from Christmas, it’s gone completely sideways.
“Shame on us. Tonight we were not very capable on the defensive side again.”
Vargas (14 points) and Smith (13) also scored in double figurers for the Colonials, who will attempt to end their season-long skid Saturday at Northern Kentucky.
The Norse went into UPMC Events Center on Dec. 29 and came away with a 79-77 victory.
“We’ve put ourselves in a tough hole right now with the way we’ve played post-Christmas,” Toole said. “We’ve got a ton of work to do. This is unacceptable. We’ve got to try to figure it out.”
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, federal prosecutors named former Robert Morris player Markeese Hastings among 26 people involved in a sprawling scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
Hastings, a 6-foot-7 forward from Grand Rapids, Mich., averaged 14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds and was named an all-Horizon League third-team selection in 2023-24 in his only season at Robert Morris after spending two seasons each at Butler and Western Michigan.