Robert Morris men lose to Cleveland State on last-second basket

For the second time, Robert Morris fell one basket short against Cleveland State, bolstering the Vikings chances for a Horizon League Tournament bye.

Drew Lowder’s off-balance layup at the shot-clock buzzer and with just 1 second left in the game lifted Cleveland State to a 73-71 victory Sunday at UPMC Events Center, its second two-point victory over Robert Morris this season.

“Frustration,” was RMU coach Andy Toole’s first thought. “When you come down the stretch in February and March, everything is a big deal.”

The Colonials (10-19, 6-12), who’ve secured the final seed for the nine-team Horizon Tournament with two regular-season games remaining, lost for the fourth straight time and fell to 2-3 in league games decided by three points or less.

Robert Morris lost to Cleveland State, 66-64, on Jan. 28 at Wolstein Center in Cleveland.

“Some of these games are decided by one possession, two possessions,” Toole said. “You never know when that possession is where you can save a possession, give us an extra possession or make a play that doesn’t allow them to have a successful possession.”

The Colonials play their final home game Wednesday against Northern Kentucky and close the regular-season Saturday at Purdue Fort Wayne before taking on the eighth-seeded team on the road March 5 in a Horizon Tournament first-round game.

Josh Corbin and Justice Williams scored 17 points apiece to pace Robert Morris. Markeese Hastings contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds, TJ Wainwright added 10 points, and Alvaro Folgueiras, despite playing just six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, wound up with 10 rebounds for the Colonials.

The teams squandered multiple scoring opportunities in the closing minutes, but Cleveland State made just enough shots to survive.

Trailing by double digits in the second half, Robert Morris used a 10-2 run to slice its deficit to 59-57 with 9:27 to go. The Colonials got within 69-68 on Williams’ 3-pointer with 2:34 left before finally pulling even at 69-all on 1 of 2 free throws by Folgueiras with 1:14 remaining.

Tae Williams’ putback inside a minute left gave Cleveland State the lead back, but Folgueiras, in a fierce inside battle, scored on a third try with 31.6 seconds left to knot the score again at 71-71.

After a timeout, Cleveland State set up for a final shot and held the ball and got it in the nick of time as Lowder’s driving layup beat the shot clock to give Cleveland State its third victory in five two-point outcomes this season and second against hard-luck victim Robert Morris.

“Great second-half play by our guys,” Toole said. “We’ll just continue to try to relay to them the fact that all these things are coming down to a possession or two. You never know during the course of the game when that possession is going to be needed.”

Tristan Enaruna scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Cleveland State (17-12, 10-8), which kept alive a chance at a first-round bye in the Horizon Tournament with regular-season home games remaining against second-place Green Bay on Wednesday and IUPUI on Saturday.

Tae Williams added 15 points and nine rebounds, and Lowder finished with 10 for Cleveland State.

Toole continued to support the efforts of Folgueiras, his promising 6-foot-9 freshman who was making just his third start of the season. He also posted a double-double Thursday with 13 points and 11 rebounds in a 63-43 loss to league-leading Oakland.

“Only playing six minutes in the first hurt us,” Toole said. “He’s long, aggressive and he gets his hands on balls. You have to understand how to play with one foul, two fouls, so you don’t put yourself in jeopardy and are hampered the rest of the game.”

Then, in a message to his entire team, Toole said: “A free-throw box-out miss, missed free throws, a failure to get an offensive rebound, not getting back in transition — all those things add up to the final score. It’s a frustration that we’re not able to, at this point of the year, figure out maybe a better way to handle some of our business during a course of action.”

Robert Morris cut into an 11-point deficit to start the second half behind 3-pointers from Corbin and Williams to close within 44-37, but the Colonials again fell behind by double digits as Lowder’s basket with 11:30 remaining pushed the Cleveland State lead to 59-49.

Robert Morris regrouped, though, and made the outcome close.

“I thought we got some great looks,” Toole said. “We had all the opportunities we needed. It was just a matter of getting one more stop, one more rebound.”