MOON TOWNSHIP– Since the start of January, the Robert Morris Men’s basketball has been hot as they have won five of eight since the start of the New Year. Now that the month has turned to February, the Colonials look to stay hot.
RMU (9-15, 5-8) welcomed Green Bay (16-9, 11-3) to the UPMC Event Center on Thursday. They would ultimately fall 81-76.
Coming into Thursday, Green Bay was shooting 35% on the year from three. However, they would be shooting 50% from three at the end of one and had the lead 32-27.
One big reason for the Colonials keeping it close was their defense. The Colonials were rotating well and letting up close to nothing inside, only letting up ten points inside the paint.
The Colonials, in their own right, struggled from the floor, only shooting 38% from the floor in the first half, but while they were not making their outside shots, shooting 27% from three, they did do a good job of getting to the paint and finishing as they had 14 paint points at the end of the half.
As every team does, you have to win the paint battle to win the game, and after the first, it was fair to say the Colonials did just that.
“I thought we started to get active,” Toole said. “They’re a team that works well using shooting to provide spacing. They got off to a quick start. We put our chests in front of people. We were active in gaps. We didn’t let the ball go wherever it wanted.”
RMU looked to have a quick start in the second half as Green Bay is one of the best in the nation in second-half point differential and tops in the Horizon League in the same category.
The Colonials would do just that, starting the half with two straight three-pointers and taking a lead. But they would give the lead right back to Green Bay after a Noah Reynolds jumper. The Colonials seemed to have a tough time getting that one stop to keep the Green Bay lead at one possession.
That stop would, however, come with 19.9 seconds left as the Colonials could force overtime. A similar situation would present as RMU was down 2 with 36.5 seconds and a Green Bay ball. RMU would get the trap they wanted in the backcourt, but a foul was called, and Green Bay would take the 4-point lead.
“It was critical,” Toole said. “They score, they win. I thought our urgency was high on that possession. I would love to be able to bottle that a little bit and get some more possessions where we have that level of urgency. I thought Jackson [Last] did a great job of moving his feet, cutting off that driving lane by Reynolds and just using his chest, you know, hold his ground and hold his wall and make him shoot a tough shot.”
The birthday boy Markeese Hastings was huge for the Colonials, as he led the team with 25 points and four rebounds.
Noah Reynolds showed why he is considered the favorite to win Horizon League Player of the Year, leading all scorers with 32 and adding five rebounds to accompany his huge scoring night.
“Trying to get those guys up to the level you need to compete to win games is our daily chore,” Toole said. “It’s the life we’ve chosen, so we’ll keep trying to urge them on, push it forward, and explain and show.”
The Colonials are back in action as they take on Milwaukee at the UPMC Event Center on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m.
