Robert Morris men's basketball cruises past St. Francis Brooklyn

Andy Toole has been at Robert Morris long enough to remember when people didn’t return his phone calls.

That was when he was an assistant under Mike Rice, and the program was just starting to carve out a niche in the world of college basketball.

Now, as he wades through his 10th season as Robert Morris’ head coach, his position is endowed by booster Patrick Gallagher and the Colonials are finding their footing after a slow start to the season.

Robert Morris (7-9, 3-0 Northeast Conference) stretched its winning streak to three in a row Thursday night, leading St. Francis Brooklyn from start to finish on the way to a 78-52 victory.

“There is still a lot of stuff we want to accomplish,” he said. “But it’s certainly better than when I got here 13 years ago as an assistant. We made a lot of phone calls and didn’t get a lot of return phone calls.

“I think people are starting to know the program. People respect the program, some of the success we had. A lot of people are aware of the facility we just built (the on-campus UPMC Events Center that opened this season). Those are all points of conversation.”

But in the end, it’s the players who start the engine. Players such as redshirt senior guard Josh Williams, who said he put up about 500 shots a day during the holiday break in his quest for success.

The results are showing. He scored 20 points and tied a career high with eight rebounds against St. Francis (7-7, 1-1). He scored the game’s first eight points, including 2 3s, to give the Colonials an 8-0 lead their opponents never threatened.

Williams hit seven of nine shots (six of eight from beyond the 3-point arc) to give him an impressive shooting percentage of 43.6 while drawing serious attention from every opposing defense.

“If he’s not urgent and ready at all times, it’s hard to get him looks,” Toole said, “and (Thursday night), I thought he was urgent at all times.”

Junior forward A.J. Bramah, who hit double-figure scoring for the 12th consecutive game and tied a career-high 16 points, said Williams’ success is no accident.

“The thing about Josh he’s the first one in (to practice) and the last one out,” he said.

Williams had plenty of help from his teammates.

Robert Morris recorded assists on 17 of 32 made field goals and committed only 10 turnovers.

The Colonials ran at every opportunity, often beating their opponents down the court and getting good looks at the basket. Robert Morris finished with a 54.2 shooting percentage (32 of 59), reaching 53.6 percent in the first half and 54.8 in the second.

“We like a high-paced game, running up and down making our opponents tired,” Bramah said.

Toole made ample use of his bench, getting eight players 15 or more minutes of playing time. Williams said everyone contributed.

“Even things that don’t get tallied, like setting good screens, everybody was doing just the little things that we needed to win,” he said.

Toole said he likes to see his team play fast, but he added, “We hope we can play a couple different ways.

“We want our identity to be a team that’s hard to score against, a team that’s not making mistakes, a team that is unselfish.”

It’s too soon to know if this version of Robert Morris can approach the four teams of 2012-2015 that won a total of 92 games and went to four consecutive postseason tournaments, including the NCAA in 2015.

This season didn’t start well, with visits to nine states and a 4-9 nonconference record. Thursday’s game was only the fourth at home among the first 16.

Toole purposely scheduled difficult opponents such as Notre Dame, Pitt and Marquette to prepare for the rigors of the conference. He does it every season.

“We always want to give our guys opportunities to play against the best, challenge ourselves, figure out what our weaknesses are,” he said. “Put guys in situations where they are going to be uncomfortable and expect them to be successful.”

That didn’t go according to plan, but the team avoided serious fallout and is on a roll.

“There is a good maturity about this team,” he said.

That characteristic may serve everyone well, with the conference schedule just getting started and 15 games to go.

“We are not even close to getting there,” Toole said. “We try to be as small-focused as we possibly can be.”