MOON TOWNSHIP– Thursday night, Robert Morris Men’s Basketball returned to action at the UPMC Event Center to face off against the Wright State Raiders. The Colonials started off shaky, but they stormed back and won in dominating fashion.

The Colonials came out of the gate cold as they quickly went down 10 points early in the first half. The Colonials gave up 22 points in the paint in the first half which put the Colonials into an early deficit.

“I thought the last 12, we disrupted their flow a little bit. and I thought we applied pressure, we had great activity, hand activity, so they weren’t able to move the ball as freely.” Said Toole

DJ Smith heated up and hit two back to back three balls to help the colonials claw back. The crowd started to get into it and that’s when the momentum swung the colonials’ way. Robert Morris went onto an 11-0 run to take the lead.

The Colonials fed off of the crowd’s energy and having a packed house showed how special this team was. They set a record for attendance with 4,068.

“The crowd, it was the first one (Game) packed like that, We didn’t want to let the city down” Woods said “The energy that the crowd brought in really gave us the momentum and like I said, we didn’t wanna lose, so losing was not an option”.

Heading into the second half Robert Morris was all gas with no brakes as the team kept it rolling. The team cooled off mid-way through the first half and the raiders continued to claw back as a result of the Colonials turnovers.

Turnovers haunted the Colonial squad in the early minutes of the second half. The Colonials were up seven by the time the under eight media timeout rolled around. They kept their composure as the Raiders continued to claw back and then Colonials eventually hit another hot streak.

The Colonials had a three point barrage as they drained 10 threes. The Colonials relied on the three ball heavy and that’s what helped them get the victory. The Colonials offensive rebounding aided them in their three point efforts.

“all the time you hear people talk about that’s one of the best times to shoot that three is off an offensive rebound and a kick out dagger.” Said Toole “we had a couple in that first half and certainly a couple of big ones in the second half DJ (Smith) had one off of Ish’s”.

The Colonials bench provided a great spark and was a big factor in the Colonials win. Ryan Prather had 13 points off the bench and went 3-4 behind the arc. Ishmael Plet also made use of his minutes and had very clutch rebounds to help the Colonials.

Andy Toole commented on the Akron transfer’s performance, saying “Ryan was really good, obviously, you know, shot the ball incredibly well, and I thought as really helped us a ton.”

The Colonials will be heading to the Semi-Finals for the first time since they started in the Horizon League. Robert Morris will be taking on sixth seed Oakland at Corteva Coliseum, Monday.