Robert Morris knocks off Drake in eye-catching early season win

Hit hard by trasfers, the Robert Morris basketball team lost its entire starting lineup after reaching the NCAA Tournament last season.

Two games into this season, a new cast of Colonials already has a signature win.

Nikolaos Chitikoudis had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Darius Livingston hit the go-ahead basket in the final minute of overtime to lead Robert Morris to an 81-79 victory Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa.

The result ended a 49-game nonconference home winning streak for Drake (1-1), the second-longest such streak in the country.

“I am so proud of our team, the way they stayed together, and when we got down eight in that second half, we were able to kind of right our ship,” coach Andy Toole said. “Our urgency defensively was so much better than the other night, and that got us going, and then that got us back in when we were down. We’ll enjoy the win, but we’ll make sure we keep our focus on how we continue to improve and get better.”

DeSean Goode also had a double-double for the Colonials (1-1) with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Albert Vargas added 12 points on four 3-pointers.

The lead changed four times in overtime, with Livingstone hitting the go-ahead shot with 59 seconds left and Drake’s Jaeshon Thomas missing a 3-pointer with 37 seconds to go.

Robert Morris was coming off a season-opening 101-69 loss to Iowa on Tuesday. Sparked by an early 10-3 run, the Colonials led 40-35 at halftime Thursday.

Using runs of 10-0 and 16-2, Drake led by as many as six points in the second half. A key 3-pointer by Vargas with 6:20 to play gave the Colonials a late lead. Chitikoudis missed a shot to win it at the buzzer at the end of regulation.

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Drake went 31-4 last season and made the NCAA Tournament, beating sixth-seeded Missouri before falling to third-seeded Texas Tech. It was the first nonconference home loss for the Bulldogs since a setback to South Dakota State on Dec. 19, 2016.

Robert Morris will host Geneva in its home opener Monday night.