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Robert Morris men no match for Horizon League leader Oakland

Dave Mackall
| Thursday, February 22, 2024 9:02 p.m.

Robert Morris’ final homestand of the season began Thursday night with a whimper as another in a steady parade of Horizon League heavyweights harassed the outmanned Colonials.

Trey Townsend scored 22 points and gathered 17 rebounds, and conference-leading Oakland completed a season sweep of Robert Morris with a 63-43 victory at UPMC Events Center, the Golden Grizzlies fourth straight win and seventh in their past eight games.

DQ Cole added 12 points for Oakland (19-10, 14-4), whose nonconference games include victories over five schools from higher-rated conferences: Xavier (Big East), Loyola Marymount (West Coast), Marshall (Sun Belt) and Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan (Mid-American).

In addition, the Golden Grizzlies dropped a six-point decision at Ohio State and led No. 12 Illinois deep into the second half before a 16-5 Illini run closed out their 64-53 victory on Nov. 10.

The Golden Grizzlies, coming off a 107-59 victory over IUPUI on Saturday, also defeated Robert Morris, 87-72, on Feb. 1 in Rochester, Mich.

“There’s a reason they’re in first place (in the Horizon),” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said. “Coach (Greg) Kampe has been doing this longer than pretty much all the other coaches combined at this point. He just does such a great job of attacking areas of your defense where they feel they have an advantage. They have great balance in their offense”

Kampe is in his 40th season at Oakland — the most of any Division I coach at one school — and earned his 676th career victory, fourth most among active D-I coaches.

Robert Morris’ third straight loss came five days after the Colonials (10-18, 6-11) allowed 101 points to Wright State for a second time this season, both games resulting in lopsided defeats.

Alvaro Folgueiras, in just his second start of the season, led Robert Morris with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

When asked what he liked about the play of his 6-foot-9 freshman from Málaga, Spain, by way of DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Fla., Toole cautioned of the dangers the NCAA transfer portal poses.

“We’ll probably have to sit him for the rest of the year in order not to allow all the vultures to come,” he said with a hint of a smile.

TJ Wainwright added 11 points for Robert Morris, which finishes its homestand Sunday against Cleveland State and Wednesday against Northern Kentucky before closing out the year at Purdue Fort Wayne on March 2.

Robert Morris shot just 28.3% (17 for 60) and made 7 of 26 3-point attempts (26.9%).

Townsend, a Horizon League preseason first-team selection, shot 14 for 17 from the free-throw line as Oakland made 18 of 24. Robert Morris did not get to the line until Folgueiras converted the Colonials’ only two attempts with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left.

“We did a really good job of getting into the paint, but a lot of times we settled for high-paint shots,” Toole said. “Their zone is a challenge. It’s the amoeba defense from UNLV of the late ’80s and early ’90s. They’re so good with their slide. They have such great length and activity.”

Toole said he was proud of the Colonials’ defensive effort, holding Oakland to 13 points below its season scoring average.

“They fought, defensively,” he said. “Some of the fight on the defensive side fatigued us on the offensive side, in all honesty. There were stretches of time where we had some team defensive effort, some activity, which was good to see.”

Robert Morris played most of the second half without leading scorer Markeese Hastings, who exited with leg cramping with 18:17 left and did not return.

“He was saying he would give it a shot, but it was kind of cramping him. I just don’t know if he felt completely comfortable,’ Toole said.

The 6-7 graduate transfer was averaging 15.5 points per game but finished with just six points in a total of 14 minutes.

In addition, sophomore forward Stephaun Walker, who was averaging 10.6 points per game, and senior guard Jackson Last, who was shooting 38% from 3-point range, failed to score.

Walker played just 12 minutes because of foul trouble, and Last returned from an injury after a two-game absence and misfired on all nine of his shots, six from behind he arc.

“The guys I played at the end of the game played better than the guys that didn’t,” Toole said. “They did a great job of trying to execute.”

Trailing by 12 points early in the second half, Robert Morris got within 33-25 with the help of a pair of 3-point shots by Hastings and Josh Corbin. But Oakland scored the next 14 points to open up a 47-25 advantage and was never threatened the rest of the way.

“We had some open shots we didn’t make, finishes at the rim we didn’t convert and a lot of opportunities to move the ball, offensively, that we didn’t take advantage of,” Toole said. “If you look at the efficiency of our defense, it was pretty decent. One of the stories of the game was our inability to make some shots. There were certainly a lot of opportunities for us to do that, but we were unable to convert and that certainly makes it a challenge to beat Oakland.”


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