In the first men’s basketball meeting between the schools, Robert Morris and Northern Kentucky spent much of the night on Friday trading baskets at UPMC Events Center.

Then Northern Kentucky stepped on the gas and powered to its first road win of the season.

Marques Warrick notched 20 points, Trevon Faulkner added 18 and Northern Kentucky used a second-half scoring surge to beat Robert Morris, 81-76, sending the Colonials to their third consecutive defeat.

The Norse outscored the Colonials, 50-43, over the final 20 minutes.

“It’s been a challenge,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said of the jump to the higher-rated Horizon League from the Northeast Conference, where the Colonials were members since the conference’s inception in 1981. “We just need some more guys to join in. We need some more guys to come in and have a positive influence on the game and not have them come in and lose ground.

“Defending and rebounding would help as well. We just couldn’t guard enough tonight.”

Northern Kentucky held the edge in rebouding 32-27.

Robert Morris enters the second of a two-game weekend set at 5 p.m. Saturday against Northern Kentucky ranked eighth among 12 teams in scoring defense in the Horizon League.

The Colonials are yielding 75.6 points per game compared to 72.6 in scoring offense, where they rank sixth.

Senior guard Jon Williams, who was leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.14), agreed playing tighter defense can open more possibilities for victories for Robert Morris, which entered its first season in the league as a fourth-place pick.

The Colonials haven’t been living up to that prediction.

“It’s basketball,” Williams said. “If you focus on defense and you can defend your butt off, you can win games. If you focus on offense, you might be able to outscore teams.”

AJ Bramah, the Horizon League’s leading scorer, kept his season-long streak alive in leading Robert Morris in all nine games, finishing one off his season high with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

Kam Farrish and Jon Williams added 13 points apiece for Robert Morris (3-6, 2-4).

David Bohm scored 16 points for Northern Kentucky (6-8, 4-5), which ended a four-game losing streak and provided coach Darrin Horn with his 200th career victory.

Adrian Nelson also was in double figures for Northern Kentucky with 12.

“I thought we did some good things tonight,” Toole said. “But we’ve got to be more detailed. We’re trying to figure out how to win games. We’ve put ourselves in position, but we haven’t been able to get over the hump.”

Trailing 33-31 at halftime, Northern Kentucky used a 13-4 run to go ahead 51-46 after Robert Morris had a 42-38 advantage on 1 of 2 free throws by Bramah.

Faulkner’s six points keyed the Norse’s surge, capped by his 3-pointer at the 13-minute, 45-second mark.

Northern Kentucky’s lead grew to 61-52 on a pair of free throws by Bohm with 10:33 left.

During a timeout, Toole, visibly upset, gathered his team and did all the speaking. The Colonials responded to cut the deficit to 63-60 but could inch no closer.

Northern Kentucky got the lead back to double digits at 73-63 on Warrick’s runner before Bohm’s 3-pointer with 3:43 remaining stretched the Norse’s lead to 76-63.

The teams went back and forth for much of the first 9 minutes before Northern Kentucky ran off six points to take a 17-11 lead.

But Robert Morris recovered to pull even at 17-17 on the first of two dunks by Bramah in a minute’s span, part of a 10-2 Colonials run that ended with them holding a 21-19 advantage on Bramah’s short jumper with 6:53 remaining before intermission.

Then it was back to trading baskets again. There were 10 lead changes and nine ties in the first half.

Robert Morris scored the last points of the half on Bramah’s tip-in of his missed shot to push the lead to two points at the break.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)