MOON TOWNSHIP — Robert Morris (7-5, 1-2 Horizon) welcomed Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (4-8, 2-1). The Colonials fell to Mastodons by a score of 52-41 in their first home loss of the season after shooting struggles were the breaking point in the contest.

Robert Morris shot a 13-50 from the field on the day, as they were getting no luck on the offensive side of the ball.

Coming off of a 12-day break didn’t help the Colonials when it came to the offense and head coach Charlie Buscaglia discussed the team’s rough shooting performance.

“I told them before the game and during practice that this will be about heart and pushing and hustling and doing everything we can,” Buscaglia said. “I wasn’t disappointed with the effort and the hustle as we were battling. We were mixing it up around the basket.”

One thing that the offense did well grabbed the offensive rebounds, but that still wasn’t enough to help RMU tonight and Buscaglia was pleased with their effort on the glass.

“Getting those second chances and going up and being relentless is important. We talk about the relentless pursuit of the ball. Even when we got the put-backs, we weren’t putting them back in. I always tell them just keep knocking on the door and then things will happen and sometimes those don’t happen, and we have to carry those on in practice and in the next game. That kind of brand of going up and getting an offensive rebound and going after it and continuing to grind, you will be successful.”

The leading scorer for the Colonials was Simone Morris, with 14 points. She was able to discuss as a player how they don’t get frustrated with a lack of results.

“I would kind of get down after one bad thing or two bad things and it will take me out of the play,” Morris said. “I have really worked not to let that affect me so much and just focus on that relentless pursuit.”

As close as the game was, at times, RMU’s interior defense struggled to keep Purdue Fort Wayne out of the paint as they scored 34 points. The Mastodons outscored the Colonials in the paint 34-18.

Buscaglia discussed the team’s struggles defensively in the paint.

“They mostly got that ball deep in there in different ways mostly, it was mostly from driving, especially from the [top of the key]. They got a lot of paint touches from them just being arc to arc. They were getting us going downhill. Some of them were missed and we missed some assignments on the ball screen. We were supposed to do a better job there. 34 points in the paint is not our brand.”

Robert Morris will be back in action on New Year’s Eve, as they take on Cleveland State at the UPMC Events Center at noon.