Robert Morris men edge defending league champion Oakland for 5th straight victory

Robert Morris is on a roll in men’s basketball, and the Colonials are doing it by winning the close ones.

They claimed another one Saturday, their fifth consecutive victory and fourth by three points or fewer during that time to keep pace with the Horizon League leaders.

“(Again) a pretty incredible win for us,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said after Kam Woods sank 2 of 3 free throws with 1.7 seconds left to lift the Colonials to a 73-71 victory over Oakland at UPMC Events Center, completing a regular-season sweep of the defending Horizon League champion Golden Grizzlies.

Robert Morris (15-7, 7-4) moved into a fourth-place tie with Youngstown State, both three games behind first-place Cleveland State and a game behind Purdue Fort Wayne and Milwaukee, who share second place.

“It was a great effort today,” Toole said, “(but) it wasn’t the cleanest game we’ve played. Credit Oakland with that. Their style of defense and their activity was really disruptive to our offensive flow.”

Robert Morris committed 14 turnovers — nine in the first half, when Oakland recorded seven of its 10 steals and went on to a 35-29 halftime lead.

“We were able to try and kind of piece it together there in that second half and find enough to be able to come out of here with a win,” Toole said.

It marked the second time this season that Robert Morris overcame a halftime deficit to beat Oakland (9-13, 6-5), which saw a four-game winning streak stopped.

In the first game between the teams Jan. 4, Robert Morris trailed Oakland, 39-30, at the break before roaring back for a 79-71 triumph in Rochester Hills, Mich., behind Woods’ 29 points.

They have become signature wins of sorts for Robert Morris.

Oakland, coached by Greg Kampe, whose 708 wins rank in the top 10 among active Division I coaches, last season defeated Kentucky in an NCAA Tournament first-round game at PPG Paints Arena after winning the Horizon League Tournament championship.

Robert Morris, which improved to 10-2 this season at UPMC Events Center, is enjoying its best season since joining the Horizon in 2020.

“These guys have responded time and time again during the course of this season,” said Toole, in his 18th season and 15th as head coach at Robert Morris, where he is 241-239 (.502).

“This has been a long process for us since we moved into the Horizon League (from the Northeast Conference),” he said. “There’s still a long way to go.”

Amarion Dickerson’s 17 points led Robert Morris. Rob Prather Jr. added 14 on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and Alvaro Folgueiras finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

It was Folgueirias’ eighth double-double of the season but first in eight games for the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, who shot 4 of 7, including 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point line.

“That’s a pretty incredible stats line,” Toole said. “We saw some small sample sizes at times last year, but it’s always an adjustment as a freshman coming in. He was crazy active defensively today.”

After Folgueiras and Oakland’s Malcolm Christie traded 3-pointers — Christie’s second in a span of 42 seconds — the score was knotted at 71-71 with 6 seconds left.

Then, with time winding down, Woods forced up a 3-point shot for Robert Morris and was fouled by Oakland’s D.Q. Cole, prompting a video review of the play, which was confirmed.

Woods made the first and third free-throw attempts to give Robert Morris a two-point lead. Oakland inbounded but was unable to get off a shot before the final buzzer.

Tuburu Naivalurua led Oakland with 23 points, eight rebounds and four steals, and Nassim Mashhour added 14 points before fouling out on a flagrant call that led to two free throws by Robert Morris’ D.J. Smith with 7:08 left.

Smith also scored in double figures for Robert Morris, finishing with 10 points.

The Colonials play the first of 10 remaining regular-season games Thursday night against IU Indy (formerly IUPUI) at UPMC Events Center.