Robert Morris men rally from 21-point deficit vs. Toledo for 2nd-largest comeback in school history

Holy Toledo!

The Robert Morris men’s basketball team rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat the Toledo, 75-70, on Saturday, marking their second-largest comeback in program history.

The Rockets stormed out to a commanding start, ripping off a 23-0 run to build a 32-12 advantage and taking a 42-24 lead into halftime. Toledo’s largest margin came at 36-15, as they appeared to be in control.

The second half, however, was all RMU as they began the half on a 15-1 run. The Colonials (8-4) chipped away at the deficit and eventually surged past Toledo (5-5), completing a dramatic comeback in which they outscored them 51-28 in the second half.

The comeback win trails only a 23-point rally against Youngstown State on Nov. 11, 2008.

“I’m incredibly proud of the second half that we played,” coach Andy Toole said. “We went in at halftime down 18, and I didn’t lose my mind shockingly… I just said at some point in time, the energy and the performance and the playmaking has got to stem from the players. You guys have to take ownership over this to some extent, and boy, did they ever take ownership. They were unbelievable in the second half, especially on the defensive side.”

The Colonials held the Rockets to 17% from the field in the second half as the Colonials made 51% of their shots.

“I just felt like all of the shots they took other than maybe one that I can think of off the top of my head, were contested,” Toole said. “There were late contests, there were hands, there were bodies. I think when you have those kind of efforts to protect the rim, protect the paint, I think you give yourself a chance. Obviously, you don’t expect someone to shoot 17%. We were fortunate a little bit for that to happen, but certainly the efforts we were making showed that we were doing everything in our power to try to make them shoot as poorly as possible.”

Albert Vargas led the charge with 16 points and five assists. He gave the Colonials energy on both sides of the ball.

“Coach Toole is a great, motivational speaker,” Vargas said. “He got to me and he put me on the spot, and I think I responded the right way. It was great. It’s always an incredible game coming back down by 20. We put a lot of stuff together, and we did a lot as a team.”

DeSean Goode and Ryan Prather Jr. led RMU in scoring with 17 points each, with Goode grabbing eight boards and Prather Jr. adding 10 rebounds.

Nikolaos Chitikoudis tallied 12 points and 14 rebounds.

“We play for each other. We share the ball,” Vargas said. “We understand that because since Day 1, coaches let us know that we have to rely on others to be able to win as a team. I think that that’s the takeaway from this that we’re going to take for the next game. We can do this, but we got to do it together.”

The 15-1 spurt was sparked by Prather Jr. and Vargas, who both tallied five points on the run.

Vargas talked about the importance of slowing down Toledo and transitioning into offense.

“It was everything,” he said. “With the defense, that’s why we went down over 20 points in the first half because we were not guarding in the right way. The energy level was down.”

Toole credited Vargas for sparking the comeback.

“He hit a couple of driving baskets in the second half there,” Toole said. “He got the energy going. He picked up the half court defensively.”

Robert Morris kept it within six points as the Rockets led 53-47.

RMU’s Cam Wilds eventually buried a 3 and tied it up at 56-56.

The onslaught continued as Prather Jr. knocked down one of two free throws, giving the Colonials their first lead in 28 minutes at 57-56.

RMU led the rest of the game.

Vargas was proud of his teammates but doesn’t want to make a habit out of 20-point rallies.

“I think we got to do a better job, because sometimes we come out in the first half, firing up,” he said. “We go up 15 to 20 and then we come out in the second half and then we let it go, then teams come back on us and make it a game. We have to find a level with sustained effort.”

Toole sees the benefits of playing a strong MAC team.

“We lost a tough one in Milwaukee, so it’s great to be able to bounce back and get a win, but we know the importance of the Horizon League Games versus the nonconference games,” Toole said. “Those are huge. We’ll break this down, we’ll examine the good stuff we did, we’ll talk about ways that we can improve, because we still need more. We still need more from more. We still need more contributions from guys that come on and touch the court.”