MOON TOWNSHIP— Robert Morris (11-13, 6-7 Horizon) league welcomed Northern Kentucky (15-9,10-3) to the UPMC Events Center. Turnovers did not help the Colonials tonight as they fell to the Norse 65-52.

Robert Morris came into this game on a three-game win streak looking to extend that vs a pre-season favorite in the Horizon League .

The Colonials had 19 turnovers this game which hurt them on the offensive side of the ball. Northern Kentucky was able to get 21 points off those turnovers which killed any form momentum RMU had. Head Coach Andy Toole was able to speak on the turnovers.

“We seemed uncomfortable at times with the decisions that we needed to make,” Toole said. “We seemed off balanced at times. We just didn’t see the game very clearly, and that’s the frustration you are in those moment and you have to get the ball to the right place and there is a small window of time that you can kind of attack and create an advantage and we weren’t able to do that”.

Robert Morris was able to come out of the second half better with less turnovers and more of a consistent rhythm to their game. But the theme of the night continued with the turnovers at the worst times stalling the Colonials offense and unfortunately was a major contributor to the loss tonight.

Besides the last three minutes of the game the Colonials were able to defend well holding them to shots under ten seconds left in the shot clock making them feel uncomfortable at times

“We have defended well for majority of the year. I thought there was some matchups. That they certainly tried to take advantage of we got beat on a few back cuts tonight which is frustrating because every point is critical, every possession is critical. You look across the whole Horizon league you know all these games are coming down to such small differences. We probably had more formula break downs today than we have had in the last couple weeks and that certainly is not advantageous when you are not playing offense very well” Toole said.

Coming out form halftime the Colonials were only down five and they quickly erased that with a five to nothing run of their own. The second half after that was disappointing with a mixture of turnovers and fatigue. Coach Toole was able to speak on the ending of the half.

“I mean obviously we want to win the game. Like you are in a two-possession game late and I didn’t feel like we had great belief that we were going to make the plays or stops and Northern Kentucky they made the plays. It’s all mental how you prepare yourself how you make decisions how you are ready to go and compete and fight it’s all mental. There’s a mindset you have to have”.

When talking about being more consistent that come with the mindset throughout the long season.

“Whether you win or lose you gotta be the same person you gotta be consistent on how you perform and prepare every day. I thought we had preparation I don’t think it was a preparation thing I just think Northern Kentucky provided a lot of resistance and we didn’t want to say alright let’s raise our level and rise to the challenge and figure this thing out. You always got to expect that it’s going to be hard, I don’t think you can ever anticipate that it’s going to be easy” Toole said.

Robert Morris will use this mindset to learn from this and move onto the next game

“Learn from this, we will break down the film well talk about the breakdowns we had learn from it and watch it”.

Overall a frustrating night but the only consistent thing that the Colonials had going for them was that Enoch Cheeks had another game with 20 points which led the team. Closely behind Cheeks was Kahliel Spear who continues his hot steak as he is averaging 18.8 points over his last five games.

The Colonials will be back at the UPMC Events Center on Saturday Feb. 4. when they take on Wright State at 7 p.m.