Heading into the final two games of the regular season, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team was in a three-way tie for second place with the Detroit Mercy and Oakland.
As luck would have it, one of the Colonials’ final two games would be against Detroit Mercy, giving them a chance to take over the No. 2 spot in the standings.
And after a masterful performance by Ryan Prather Jr., RMU now stands alone as the second-place team in the Horizon League.
Prather Jr. scored 26 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead Robert Morris (20-10, 12-7) past Detroit Mercy (14-14, 11-8), 73-62, on Wednesday at UPMC Events Center for its sixth straight win.
The Colonials completed the sweep of Detroit Mercy and own the tie breaker over Oakland (via the Colonials’ sweep of Wright State) come playoff seeding time.
Both teams got off to slow starts offensively, combining for only five makes on 18 shots. However, TJ Nadeau gave UDM separation on the scoreboard, as he scored 10 of the Titans’ first 14 points. Detroit Mercy’s defense fueled its performance in the first half, as it built a 22-13 lead by the under-eight media timeout, holding RMU to 3-of-13 shooting.
The Colonials outscored the Titans, 13-8, over the final 7 minutes, 40 seconds of the half, though, and even knotted the score at 26 after DeSean Goode made a corner 3. But a putback by Legend Greeter off a Lance Stone miss gave Detroit Mercy a 28-26 lead by halftime.
“I thought in the first half the ball didn’t move the way we needed it to,” RMU coach Andy Toole said. “Our bodies didn’t move the way we needed it to. And then that kind of led to a little bit of lack of urgency on the defensive side, and we were trying to, at the timeouts, just rally guys about all these games are hard. They are all great challenges. You just got to stay with it.
“… And I thought in the second half we came out with really good energy, and, obviously, we kind of battled back and forth. And then, you know, that little run we made from six (minutes) to four (minutes) really kind of gave us control of that game.”
Through the first 10 minutes of the second half, neither side led by more than four points, with the lead changing hands six times.
But, after Orlando Lovejoy put the Titans up 50-47 with 7:10 remaining, Prather Jr. scored 13 of the Colonials’ next 15 points to guide his team to a 62-52 lead.
“… (My) team, you know, coaches, they still believed in me,” Prather Jr. said. “You know, it was flat in the first half, and I wasn’t getting it up. Coach was on me about, you know, just getting it up and keep being aggressive. And my teammates found me, so without coaches and teammates, you know, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”
Added Toole: “Obviously, he puts in a ton of work. I mean, I think that’s really what allows him to do that, and everybody has confidence in him.”
Robert Morris outscored Detroit Mercy, 26-14, over the final 7:10 to earn the pivotal conference win.
Goode finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Nikolaos Chitikoudis had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Ta’Zir Smith scored 12 points.
Lovejoy led the way for Detroit Mercy with 19 points. Nadeau finished with 12 points, and Ryan Kalambay had 10 points.
RMU has one game remaining against Cleveland State on Saturday. With only one game separating second-place Robert Morris and fifth-place Detroit Mercy, every game matters.
“I mean, we need Saturday badly,” Toole said. “I mean, right? Like, there’s no doubt that Saturday means a lot. Every game we have means a lot, and we’re fighting for seeding. If we’re not able to handle our business and execute properly, a lot of things come into play.
“When you can control your own destiny, you want to try to take advantage of that. So, we can win that game and put ourselves in the best position possible as we head into the (Horizon League) tournament.”