MOON TOWNSHIP, PA – Even though the Colonials were unable to open up Horizon League conference play against Cleveland State, there was basketball being played in Hoop Township Friday night. Bowling Green (5-2, 1-0 MAC) came to town and defeated Robert Morris (1-1) by a score of 85-65.

Head coach Andy Toole said after the game, “I liked the fight… there were times where Bowling Green took control of the game and we battled back.”

In the first couple of minutes of the game, the RMU defense was intense, as the Falcons were unable to get any easy buckets due to the strong defense from the Colonials’ AJ Bramah.

It was a defensive battle early on in the game, with both teams struggling to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. Bowling Green took a 6-3 lead in the first media timeout.

Robert Morris was getting outworked down low as they struggled to rebound the ball due to the size advantage of Bowling Green.

The offensive did not do any better for the Colonials, as they started to force up shots and could not find any space. The Falcons took a 14-5 lead into the second media timeout.

Toole said, “We talk about the things that we work on. Let’s execute the things that we do during practice. Make sure we’re competing on the defensive side making sure we finish the possession with a rebound. Executing with precision making simple plays being aggressive on your catches those are the things that the guys need to embrace.”

RMU then went on a roll, popping off on all cylinders that, in turn, propelled them to a 9-2. That run cut the Bowling green lead to just two points with 7:26 left in the first half.

Both teams traded buckets back and forth as the offensives were beginning to click, but the Falcons held a 33-27 lead into the final media timeout of the half.

Robert Morris kept fighting to close the gap and they did as they closed it to within four points as the Falcons took a 41-37 lead into the half.

AJ Bramah was asserting his dominance down low 10 points and six rebounds through the first half. Charles Bain also had success on the offensive side of the ball, logging seven points in the first 20 minutes.

Overall the Colonials shot 50% from the field and 3/9 from behind the arc. After a rough start in the beginning stages of the game, RMU began to find a rhythm later in the half.

Robert Morris started off slow once again but was able to start to gain the momentum back with two monstrous slams from AJ Bramah. Enoch Cheeks also contributed to the offense, scoring four points early in the half. Going into the under 16-minute media timeout RMU kept battling and cut the lead to 47-45.

Offensive fouls began to plague the Colonials. Kahliel Spear picked up two quick fouls on consecutive possessions. That hurt the Colonials as Bowling Green opened up their lead to 10 with 11:55 to play in the second half.

Coach Toole said, “Oftentimes, we talk about playing off two feet and there were some times where we went barreling in there. We got to play more under control.”

Foul trouble continued to hurt the Colonials as AJ Bramah picked up his fourth of the game. The Falcons continued to build on their lead taking a 14 point lead into the media timeout.

Bowling Green controlled the game out of the media timeout as they went on a 7-0 run which extended their lead to 73-57 with under five minutes to go in the game.

Things didn’t get much better for the Colonials, and they struggled both offensively and defensively in the latter part of the game as Bowling Green finished off the game strong.

Overall for it only being Robert Morris’ second game of the season and their first game in almost two weeks, there were some bright spots when the offense battled back in the first half. Overall, however, there is still clear room for improvement.

For the game, AJ Bramah had another solid performance in the loss as he led the team in scoring and logged 20 points and 8 rebounds. Robert Morris shot 47% from the field and just 23% from behind the arc. The Colonials were also outrebounded 36-31 in the defeat.

Robert Morris has a quick turnaround as they hit the road to face the Marshall Thundering Herd at 2:00 p.m. before they start Horizon League play against Purdue Fort Wayne on December 26 and 27.