MOON TOWNSHIP – Robert Morris (6-4, 0-1 Horizon) started the conference portion of their schedule at tonight, welcoming Youngstown State (4-5, 1-0 Horizon).

Last time out the Colonials struggled, losing on the road to Ohio in their last game.

The struggles would continue as tonight just wasn’t the Colonials night as they would fall in the conference opener to the Penguins by a final score of 72-58.

Both teams struggled from the floor, starting the game 0-for-5. But it was Youngstown who stated to catch fire with a 14-0 run midway through the second half with the Colonials unable to catch up.

RMU shot a lowly 34% from the floor including 3-for-23 from behind the arc.

“I think we were trying to figure some stuff out there in the second half,” Toole said “I thought they did a good job of blocking the lane in the first half. Some of our decisions were slow and choppy.”

Going into a conference game so early in the year might be a mindset change for some players and even the coaching staff. That might affect how things go so early in the year to change the way you think and how a team and coaching staff prepares and how a team battles.

Going forward facing a big man like YSU’s Gabe Dynes in the end could help RMU going forward and how they can prepare differently for the size of each team. Dynes, who stands 7-foot-3, had 7 points, 8 rebounds and two blocks.

“He is about the biggest guy they have out there.” Toole said. “Obviously we didn’t do a good job of attacking them with him in the game. So we got to get better at figuring out what’s the path for us”

The game plan for RMU offensively was to try and pull; some people away from the rim, on some possessions RMU had all five offensive players outside the arc to try and get the big men away from the rim.

“We were trying to pull some people away from the rim.” Toole said. “We were trying to create a little more spacing by getting guys outside of the three point line.”

RMU’s Kam Woods led the Colonials with 14 points and five assists, while YSU’s Juwan Maxey was the games overall scoring leader with 16.

The Robert Morris Colonials will be back in action this Sunday, Dec. 8 for another Horizon League game when they face off against Purdue Fort Wayne, with tip-off set for 2 p.m.