Robert Morris men win, clinch their 1st Horizon League regular-season title

After four agonizing seasons in the Horizon League, Andy Toole finally is back on top.

And the longtime Robert Morris men’s basketball coach is hoping for even more.

“We’ll enjoy this tonight and then we’ll be back to work (Friday) trying to figure out what we’ve got to do to prepare for next week,” Toole said Thursday night after RMU clinched the Horizon League regular-season championship by beating IU Indianapolis, 82-68, at IU Indy Gymnasium.

Robert Morris claimed the title outright and earned the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League Tournament following Wright State’s 82-76 victory over Cleveland State in a later game.

It was the Colonials’ seventh consecutive victory and 13th in the past 14 games heading into next week’s Horizon Tournament, where Robert Morris (23-8, 15-5) earned a first-round bye and will open with a quarterfinal-round game on Thursday night at UPMC Events Center.

Josh Omojafo scored 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and Kam Woods recorded his third consecutive double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the red-hot Colonials, who began the year 2-4 in the Horizon but lost just once more in the league, a 66-64 decision at Wright State on Feb. 2.

Once the class of the Northeast Conference, the Colonials left in 2020 to become a member of the more challenging Horizon, where they’ve struggled to be relevant, posting just one non-losing conference record.

Until this year.

Toole, who led RMU to two regular-season and two conference tournament championships each and two NCAA Tournaments (one was wiped out by the covid-19 pandemic) while in the NEC, was planning to savor the Colonials’ latest outcome on the long bus ride home from Indianapolis after his team added yet another impressive highlight to its electrifying season.

“I credit these guys. They came here with a goal in mind of trying to get this program to a championship level,” Toole said. “There was a lot of work put in by these coaches and some of our previous staff to build this roster and build this team. It’s amazing how it’s come together.”

In the first meeting with IU Indy, Robert Morris routed the Jaguars, 106-53, on Jan. 30 at UPMC Events Center.

The second time wasn’t as easy.

“Each time we’ve had a setback, they’ve been able to refocus and get back on the same page. Tonight was an example of that,” Toole said. “We were on the road in conference up 3 at the half, and we were able to stretch it to double digits and close it out.”

A 14-0 run by Robert Morris broke open a close game that saw IU Indy trail by just 34-31 at halftime and 34-33 just after the start of the second half.

“The first 10 minutes of defense in the second half was really the key for us,” Toole said. “At the 14-minute mark, they had only scored 2 points, and that’s where we were able to establish a little bit of a lead.”

Omojafo, who shot 4 for 6 from 3-point range, also contributed seven rebounds and three assists. Woods, who was named Horizon League Player of the Week on Monday, shot 8 for 16 and also handed out four assists.

With Amarion Dickerson, among the nation’s leaders in blocks, battling foul trouble, Robert Morris lost big man Alvaro Folgueiras to a leg injury in the second half.

Toole, however, was confident the 6-foot-9 Folgueiras would be ready to play next week.

“He’s doing OK. He’s pretty sore,” Toole said. “He just didn’t feel like he could explode off of it. He could walk on it. He didn’t feel like he could keep up with the pace of the game. And because he’s a great teammate, he said to me, ‘If we’re playing well, I don’t need to go back in.’ Not that he didn’t want to go back in, but he also didn’t want to disrupt the rhythm that we were having.

“I think he’ll be fine.”

Folgueiras, who scored 14 points before exiting for the night, is RMU’s second-leading scorer (14.3 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (9.3 rpg). He landed awkwardly while running to block a shot and was helped to the sideline, where he remained for the rest of the game.

Ryan Prather Jr. also scored in double figures with 12 points for Robert Morris.

“Chris Ford did a good job, Ish (Ismael Plet) did a good job, Ryan, obviously, had a good game,” Toole said. “We got good contributions from the bench, and that was critical.”

IU Indy (9-21, 5-14) was led Jarvis Walker and Sean Craig with 17 points each. Paul Zilinskas added 14 for the Jaguars, who lost for the fifth time in six games.