Robert Morris held off a second-half surge Friday to secure a 61-54 win over Southern Utah as part of the Urban-Bennett Invitational at UPMC Events Center.

The Colonials’ first-half defense and quick start gave them enough of a cushion to earn the victory. RMU led the entire game, entering halftime ahead 34-15.

The Colonials (5-3) held the Thunderbirds to 20% shooting from the field, including 14% from 3-point range in the first half.

Albert Vargas led the Colonials with 14 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

DeSean Goode posted his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Nikolaos Chitikoudis added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Southern Utah used an 11-4 run — capped by Jaiden Feroah’s layup and a 3-pointer from Tanner Hayhurst — to cut it to 56-50 with three minutes left.

The Colonials, however, earned enough stops to pull away.

Feroah and Hayhurst scored 17 points each as the Thunderbirds shot 50% in the second half.

“We’re so fortunate to be able to come away with the win,” RMU coach Andy Toole said. “Obviously, disappointed in the way that we performed in the second half. Compliments to Southern Utah and the way that they played the second half, just with a lot of fight, energy and effort.

“Credit their coaching staff for getting those guys up and running because they came out and they started attacking us right for the jump, and obviously we let our guard down.”

Despite losing a large lead, Toole was elated with Goode’s play.

“DeSean is great,” Toole said. “I don’t want him to play 37 minutes. Obviously, we need contributions from other guys in the front court to be able to do what we do to win the game, but it’d be nice to play him 30, and I still think he can have the same type of production at 30 because now you’re a little bit more fresh … but he was phenomenal tonight. I mean, he’s been phenomenal all year.”

RMU’s defense disrupted Southern Utah, forcing 10 turnovers and scoring 18 points off turnovers in the first half. Ta’zir Smith made two steals, and Chitikoudis and Ryan Prather Jr. also had steals in the first half.

The Colonials tallied 25 points off turnovers for the game with 15 team steals. Vargas and Smith had three each.

“It gave us a lot of momentum, especially helped us run in transition,” Smith said. “We have a lot of good guys who can go out there and make plays. It really starts on the defensive end. We get more stops, leading to more baskets, more opportunities for us to run in transition and just play.

“You love the stuff going on in the first half. Our first standard for our program is sustained effort.”

However, he added, that the sustained effort needs to be maintained.

“We have to handle our business, and that’s part of maturity,” Toole said. “Maybe not everyone likes playing defense. Maybe they don’t like closing out, but that beats the alternative of losing games, and that’s what we have to get across to these guys.”

The Thunderbirds brought the thunder in the second half as Hayhurst tallied seven points and cut the lead to 45-35 in the first eight minutes.

Vargas and Goode, along with a returning Josh Hill who notched six points, helped reel the Colonials back and carried them to a 54-39 lead.

Free throws from Goode and Chitikoudis iced the game.

Toole preached a need for more energy in the second half and the need to play a complete game. He said he wants the team to be greedy and aggressive on defense and on the glass and unselfish on offense.

“No coach ever said, ‘Man, that guy’s getting too many rebounds,’ ” he said. “That’s the kind of mentality you have to have if you’re going to try to max out who you can become as a team, and, obviously, we haven’t developed that mindset yet because we’ve now seen it in back-to-back games. When we’ve been able to build leads, we haven’t been able to be greedy on that stuff.”

Toole, however, is glad to play three straight home games.

“It’s awesome the Urban-Bennett Classic was created. We had a really generous donor who helped create this opportunity,” he said. “We love to get home teams and home games but also to bring teams into Pittsburgh. This helps us continue to improve and have a home slate. My first 10 years where we’d have three nonconference home games … it makes a big difference. You cannot have a great performance and still win and learn.”

Day 2 of the Urban- Bennett Invitational features Southern Utah and Stetson at 2 p.m. Saturday. Robert Morris hosts Stetson at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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