TOWSON, Md.– After a shaky performance against Point Park, the Robert Morris men’s basketball team traveled to the Charm City to face the Towson Tigers in a non-conference matchup.
The game did not disappoint as the Tigers crushed the hearts of the Colonials, defeating them 66-62.
“[It] just came down to one or two plays that we couldn’t make and Towson’s really well coached. They obviously did a great job of pounding the ball in the paint. We knew that was gonna be part of their game plan. We weren’t able to execute our defensive game plan well enough against them, and they were really able to just out-physical us in the paint.”
The Colonials were outscored 42-18 in points in the paint.
It seemed like storylines built up before the ball was tipped as one of the basket’s rims broke during pregame warmups. The delay was short lived however, lasting for just 16 minutes.
The Colonials started out the gate slowly, never being able to find a good shot inside as they shot just 31% from the floor in the first half. However, RMU hit four three-pointers in the half.
Head Coach Andy Toole showed his frustration for the lackluster shooting early on.
“I think the effort is good,” Toole said. “We must continue to stay more engaged with some of the details. Those are really the differences between winning and losing. The challenge and the frustration comes because, you know, a lot of the stuff that we’re discussing and talking about on a daily basis in practice we still haven’t fully grasped.”
“We’re three games into the year, so we still have time to continue to grasp it, but we’d like it to be right away. Many coaches don’t have a lot of patience, so we’re trying to urge those guys to be as detailed as possible now.”
Four Colonials put up double-digit points. Justice Williams led the team with 16 points and three assists. The LSU transfer returned to the lineup after missing Thursday’s game against Point Park. Western Michigan transfer Markesse Hastings scored 12 points and brought down seven rebounds and sophomores Stephaun Walker had 15 and TJ Wainwright had 13.
The four scored all but six points in the game, with Jackson Last having five and Chris Ford having one.
“We need as many contributions as we can from as many people,” Toole said. “That’s part of the deal. Everybody that touches the floor has got to be able to contribute in a positive way. Some nights, it will be certain guys scoring, some nights, it will be others. I’ve seen there are a few guys in Markeese [Hastings] and Steph [Walker] and Justice [Williams] and Josh Corbin when he comes back, TJ showing a propensity to be able to score the ball. We feel like we have some options to do it, and then everyone else gotta contribute where they can.”
The second half went back and forth, trading buckets left and right. The Colonials, however, got into foul trouble early and gave the Tigers the double bonus with about six minutes to go.
Later in the half, the Colonials ignited a 7-0 run with four minutes to go to take the lead for the first time since early in the first half.
The game was tied with less than a minute to go. Towson’s Christian May pulled in his own miss and laid it in with 42 seconds to take the lead.
“We had some chances,” Toole said. “We had some opportunities. I thought we got some good shots down the stretch. But we’re unable to kind of get enough of them or get the stops we needed to be able to pull the win out.”
The Colonials face the Big Ten’s Wisconsin Badgers in Madison on Friday at 7 p.m.
