Robert Morris defeated IU Indianapolis on Wednesday night at UPMC Events Center in a pace-and-space 74-58 Horizon League victory.
The Colonials and the Jaguars traded score for score all the way into the second half. RMU led 36-33 at halftime.
Nevertheless, two massive runs, a 9-2 and a 18-5 stretch, helped the Colonials pull away.
Ryan Prather Jr. fueled the Colonials with 20 points and four assists, knocking down 4 of his 5 attempts from 3-point range. Eleven of his points came late in the last 10 minutes of play.
“Ryan’s done a really good job all year with his assist-to-turnover ratio, and it was big to see him knock down a couple of those threes late to stretch the lead,” coach Andy Toole said. “He balances his perimeter shooting and his drives well. He didn’t finish as well as he wanted today, but he’ll go watch the film and work on it. He’s a tireless worker and always trying to figure out how to help the team.”
Prather epitomized team-first, unselfish basketball, whether it was driving and kicking it or taking shots he found the space to let it fly. He commented on his 11 late points.
“That really came from my teammates and coaches just trusting me and telling me to keep shooting and stay aggressive,” Prather said. “Without that confidence from them, I don’t know if I have that same mindset, so it helps me tremendously.”
Robert Morris shot 50 percent from beyond the arc, knocking down 11 treys. The Colonials added 19 assists.
“It comes from everyone getting to their spots and trusting the plan,” Prather said. “When we do that, someone’s always open, and guys do a good job finishing plays, which leads to a lot of assists.”
Toole said he loves when the team plays as a unit.
“We try to emphasize being unselfish,” Toole said. “I don’t really care who shoots it as long as it’s a good shot. We don’t have an ‘iso’ guy that can just go get one, so we’ve got to work together to find shots, and these guys have done a good job of understanding that and executing it throughout the year.”
Darius Livingston and Ta’Zir Smith sparked the Colonials with Livingston delivering 14 points and Smith 11.
RMU tallied 34 bench points, with Nikolaos Chitikoudis adding nine.
“We talked earlier in the week about not getting enough from enough guys, and tonight Niko, Taz and Darius gave us an incredible lift,” Toole said. “The scoring is great, but what really stood out was their energy, their urgency and their coachability. You could see it in their eyes. They were engaged.”
Toole added that how they played will help everybody execute better and help balance minutes, leading to less fatigue-related breakdowns.
Prather mentioned their impact on the long second-half runs.
“That was huge for us,” he said. “They came off the bench and gave us a great spark, and we really needed that. They played great, and I know they’ll keep doing it.”
RMU destroyed IU Indy on the glass, collecting 41 rebounds to IU Indy’s 24.
Coach Toole kept the lineup big, using multiple big men at the same time.
“We’ve been a good offensive rebounding team for most of the year, but in Indy they outrebounded us and we only had two offensive rebounds at halftime,” Toole said. “It was good to see us get back to that in the second half tonight. Niko really spearheaded it, but other guys were getting hands on balls and making runs at it.”
Said Prather: “We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds to them the first time we played, and Coach KL (Kim Lewis) was very honest with us about rebounding, boxing out, and being physical. Everybody took that to heart, and it showed tonight.”
Chitikoudis notched 11 rebounds. DeSean Goode added nine points and eight rebounds.
Kaleb Brown recorded nine points and six boards. Josh Hill grabbed five rebounds.
The Colonials held the Jaguars, the No. 1 offense in the Horizon and 27th in the nation that came into the contest averaging 86 points, to 25 points in the second half.
“I do think the communication was better tonight,” Toole said. “We’ve been harping on it like crazy the last few days. We still had a couple breakdowns that we’ve got to clean up, but overall the engagement was better. Those breakdowns usually come when you’re not mentally locked in, and those are the things that can’t beat you.”
The Colonials shot the lights out in the first half, burying six 3s and shooting 58 percent from the field.
RMU held a 36-33 lead and carried its hot shooting into the second half, going on a 9-4 run to start the half. A Chitikoudis dunk put it up 45-38.
Nonetheless, the up-tempo, run-and-gun Jaguar offense led by Micah Davis, who tallied 18, kept up with the Colonials as they trimmed it to 47-43.
After a media timeout, Robert Morris launched a 9-2 run that was capped off with a Livingston 3 to extend its lead to 56-45.
The Jags went on another 6-0 run and, after a Davis 3, IU Indy trailed 56-51.
However, an explosive 18-5 run fueled by Smith, Josh Hill, and Ryan Prather put the Colonials up 74-56.
“They’re obviously a very good offensive team, but I thought we really picked it up defensively in the second half, especially with gap help, communication and getting back in transition,” Toole said. “We did a great job of that today, and now it’s about continuing to build on it.”
Toole said defense won the game and helped the Colonials get into transition, which led to their runs.
“It really came down to getting stops. In the timeouts we kept talking about urgency — doing what the game is asking you to do, anticipating the next rotation, the next drive and communicating coverages,” he said. “Offensively we were moving the ball and getting good inside-out looks, but it always comes back to whether we’re going to stay committed defensively for as long as it takes.”
Prather, a key member of last season’s tournament team, is ready to lead the Colonials. He and the team are ready for a tough Horizon League schedule.
“The biggest thing is that the little things matter,” Prather said. “Communication, talking on everything and playing defense are what got us where we needed to be last year. When we do those things consistently, I feel like we can get there again.”