So long?
In perhaps the final meeting in their storied Western Pennsylvania men’s basketball series, Robert Morris kept to its season-long script, rallying from a sizeable first-half deficit Saturday to beat Saint Francis, 79-70, at DeGol Arena in Loretto.
DeSean Goode’s 24 points and eight rebounds led Robert Morris (10-4), which won for the seventh time in eight games and fourth time when trailing by double digits in the first half.
“Glad we were able to figure it out, work through it and execute to the level it takes to win a Division I basketball game,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said.
In a matchup of NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, Robert Morris improved its series advantage against Saint Francis to 56-38 after the Colonials defeated the Red Flash for a seventh consecutive time.
The schools have played each other in every season since 1979-80, with the majority of the games coming when both were members of the Northeast Conference.
The streak, however, is likely to end when Saint Francis (2-11) transitions next season to the Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
Robert Morris trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half but rallied to take a 37-34 halftime lead on consecutive 3-point shots by Ryan Prather Jr. Both teams shot 50% before intermission.
“Credit Saint Francis with the way they shot the ball in the first half,” Toole said. “I don’t know if we did as well as we could’ve in trying to disrupt their flow and guard the ball. They stepped up and made them (7 for 12 3-pointers). But give our guys some credit. We had some guys really step up and contribute.”
RMU was playing without a pair of injured regulars — 6-foot-9 Nikolaos Chitikoudis (head) and freshman guard Darius Livingston (foot) — forcing Toole to dig deeper into his bench.
Josh Hill, a 6-11 Arkansas State transfer, and Kaleb Brown, a 6-7 Missouri transfer, were making their first college starts, with Hill contributing eight points and five rebounds in 15 minutes and Brown totaling three points, four rebounds and four assists in 28 minutes for the Colonials.
Chitikoudis, RMU’s third-leading scoring (11.8 ppg) and second-leading rebounder (7.2 rpg), was held out after striking his head in a fall during the second half of an 80-77 overtime victory against Youngstown State on Tuesday at UPMC Events Center.
Livingston, who is averaging 8.5 points in 25 minutes in a reserve role, missed his third consecutive game.
“We’re hoping to get everybody back and get them healthy to be at full strength as we head into the new year,” Toole said.
Prather, the lone returnee from RMU’s Horizon League Tournament championship team, added 18 points and a career-high nine assists. Cam Wilds finished with 13 points for the Colonials in their final nonconference game.
Sylar Wicks led Saint Francis with 19 points. Zion Russell added 15, and Ralph Martino Jr. and Ahmad Harrison chipped in 11 apiece for the Red Flash, the defending NEC Tournament champion.
Robert Morris took control in the second half, pushing the lead to 68-55 before settling for the nine-point victory.
“Obviously, we’ve got to continue to tighten things up and be better,” Toole said. “From here on out, it’s all Horizon League play and we know how challenging that is.”
Robert Morris, which generated 20 assists on 29 field goals, will resume its Horizon schedule Dec. 29 against Northern Kentucky at UPMC Events Center.
Saint Francis, which has played one of the toughest nonconference schedules in Division I, opens NEC play Jan. 2 against visiting Le Moyne.
The Red Flash entered the game 0-10 against Division I opponents, where they had been outscored by an average of 27.3 points. Among the results were lopsided losses of 102-66 to Oklahoma, 104-63 to TCU and 102-61 to No. 23 Florida.
Trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half, Robert Morris roared back to take its three-point halftime lead on Prather’s 3-pointer on the Colonials’ final possession before the break.
RMU shot 12 for 22 (54.5%) from behind the arc and was 25 for 47 (53.2) overall with Goode finishing 9-for-13 shooting and converting both his 3-point attempts and Prather connecting on 5 of 9 shots, all from 3-point range.
“DeSean and Ryan came out in the second half and were able to flip a switch,” Toole said. “But it was Ryan’s shooting flurry in the first half that gave us the momentum.”
Against Youngstown State, Prather’s 3-pointer with 11 seconds left in overtime pushed RMU into the lead for good.
Though Robert Morris built its second-half lead against Saint Francis to 13 points, the Colonials struggled to pull away.
“We just couldn’t sustain the momentum throughout,” Toole said. “You can’t just pick and choose when you want to play, especially when it comes to who you’re going to face moving forward.”
But, he said, “The execution and pace were better in the second half.”
