It was early in the first half when Andy Toole took a few steps and buried his head in his hands. Robert Morris’ basketball coach already was fretting.

Who could blame him?

His reigning Horizon League champs have hit a skid, and Toole, the conference’s returning Coach of the Year, doesn’t quite know what to do.

“We’ve plateaued in our improvement because I’m not coaching well enough,” Toole said Sunday following Robert Morris’ second loss in a row and third in the past four games, a 79-74 decision at home to Purdue Fort Wayne.

It comes a week after the Colonials absorbed one of their worst losses in recent memory, a 96-73 setback at Oakland.

“Same story. Can’t guard. Can’t win,” Toole said.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s Corey Hadnot II scored 17 points and blocked Ryan Prather Jr.’s potential game-tying 3-point shot for Robert Morris in the closing seconds as the Mastodons held on to beat the Colonials at UPMC Events Center.

Prather shot nearly 40% last season from behind the arc. His 38 makes this year lead the team, though he was just 3 for 11 on Sunday (7 for 19 overall).

Still, Toole said, “The last play, you want the ball in Ryan’s hands.”

Nikolaos Chitikoudis’ layup with 15 seconds left capped a 21-10 run and pulled Robert Morris within 77-74. The Colonials then forced a Purdue Fort Wayne turnover to regain possession with 5 seconds remaining. But Prather’s shot was rejected and RMU fouled DeAndre Craig Jr., who closed out the scoring with a pair of free throws for the Mastodons.

“Everything had gone well, then we didn’t screen Ryan’s man, which is part of the play,” Toole said. “Again, it’s those details, those (darn) details that get in the way all the time.

“There’s a certain way you’re supposed to do things. There’s a certain way you need to do things in order to give yourself the best chance to win. In order for your team and your teammates to know what’s going, you play within the system, so there’s no chaos. We play in chaos. We do what we feel and then hope that it works out in our favor.”

Maximus Nelson, Mikale Stevenson and DeAndre Craig Jr. all added 15 points for Purdue Fort Wayne (11-8, 5-3).

Prather’s 20 points led Robert Morris, while DeSean Goode added 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Albert Vargas produced a season-high nine assists for the Colonials, who overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half to take a 46-45 lead 4 minutes into the second half, a short-lived advantage and RMU’s last lead of the game.

Twice did the Colonials fall behind by 14 points only to rally within three on four occasions, the final setting up Prather’s potential game-tying shot.

Soon after this latest dud, Toole appeared resigned, saddled with a group assembled mainly through the transfer portal to fill the vacancies of all five starters, themselves having transferred following a 26-9 season that culminated with the program’s first Horizon Tournament championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Prather, last season a part-time starter who averaged 8.3 points per game, is the only returning player from that dominating team.

Robert Morris now finds itself a game under .500 in conference play ahead of another two-game road trip, beginning Thursday at IU Indianapolis and winding up Saturday at Northern Kentucky in a rematch of the Norse’s 79-77 victory Dec. 29 at UPMC Events Center.

Before Sunday’s game, the Colonials returned home from a 1-1 trip that produced an 85-77 victory at Detroit Mercy before the lopsided loss to Oakland.

Gradually, a promising start to the season — RMU (11-7, 3-4) was 10-4 before hitting a tailspin — is evolving into a potentially disastrous plunge.

“You pretty much pick and choose how you want to score against us — first half, made 3s; second half, just get to the rim, do whatever you want,” Toole said. “I’m just trying to find somebody that can execute defensively. Like somebody, anybody. Either we’re not teaching well enough or repping it well enough. We’re just not embracing the ability to guard and move our feet and do it without fouling.

“When we have certain guys out there, there’s just a constant fear of the wildest things happening. Guys getting completely lost. Guys getting just blown by. Guys just not communicating. It’s stuff we’ve talked about for a long, long time. I can’t figure out how to get them to do it. It’s everybody.”

Was Toole surprised by the Colonials’ latest response?

“No. I watch us practice every day,” he said. “I can’t figure out how to infiltrate the decisions and habits. … It’s certainly easier when you have guys coming eager to learn instead of just hoping to get through the day.”

Purdue Fort Wayne led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Robert Morris cut the deficit to 40-37 on a basket by Goode.

But the Mastodons’ lead expanded to six at halftime on Nelson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Robert Morris played catch-up all day. Even when the Colonials took several leads, they weren’t able to hold them.

“We don’t respect the game or the opportunity enough to give our best effort on a sustained basis, so we pick and choose when we want to play hard,” Toole said before inflicting a sarcastic tone. “We come out to games hoping that our opponent doesn’t want to win. Once they prove to us that they do, then we’ll try to get more invested and engaged. But once we take the lead, we relax because we’ve accomplished so much. We go down again and realize we have to pick up our energy level again.”

Then, turning dead serious, Toole said: “It’s a terrible cycle that we’re living in.”

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