Robert Morris drops 80-69 Horizon League decision to Cleveland State

Over the previous five games, Robert Morris offered coach Andy Toole hope.

The Colonials had won four of those games and looked like they were ready to stand up to a team such as Cleveland State and take whatever punches its players might throw.

He was wrong.

Cleveland State (11-6, 5-1 Horizon League) stretched its winning streak to seven in a row Wednesday night by brushing aside a modest Robert Morris threat and rolling to an 80-69 victory at the UPMC Events Center.

“I was really excited to play this game,” Toole said, “because I knew what Cleveland State would bring to the court, and I was eager to see what we would bring. I’m a little disappointed on what we brought.”

The Colonials (10-7, 2-4) held a 38-37 lead at halftime, but the Vikings blitzed their hosts 30-9 to start the second half, and the 20-point deficit was too much to overcome.

“They do a great job of just disrupting everything you do on offense and defense,” Toole said. “We fell victim to that. They were the more aggressive team. They were the more connected team and came out in the second half and really just threw some haymakers, and we weren’t able to stand up to those. Whether it was some bad shot selection, certainly some bad execution of our defensive formula that allowed them to really take control of that game.

“It wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates.”

Toole was most disappointed in his team’s second-half defense that allowed Cleveland State to make more than half of its shots (16 of 31).

“You just have to have such a level of toughness to compete against them that we show flashes of and we don’t show consistency of,” he said. “They raise their level. Instead of raising our level to match it, we wanted to get foul calls or bail-outs or whatever and that’s not a recipe for success against those guys.

“We gave up 43 points in that second half. You’re supposed to be able to execute your defensive formula. That’s the price of admission. That’s supposed to be your responsibility. Simple stuff that we guarded many times.”

The defeat masked good efforts from Kam Woods, who played 38 1/2 minutes and scored 18 points with six assists, and Josh Omojafo, who added 14 points. Amarion Dickerson, who came into the game second in the nation in blocked shots, left the gym with four more to raise his total to 47. Alvaro Folgueiras, who came into the game averaging 13 points and 11.1 rebounds, was in foul trouble, played less than 18 minutes and finished with seven points and five rebounds.

Cleveland State was led by Dylan Arnett, who scored 16 points in less than 18 minutes and Je’Shawn Stevenson, who added 14. Tahj Staveskie (13), Tevin Smith (11) and Chase Robinson (11) also scored in double figures for the Vikings.

Robert Morris’ overall winning record after 17 games is not enough for Toole to predict this season will be his team’s best after five seasons in the Horizon League.

“Too soon to say that,” said Toole, who has been the Colonials’ coach for 15 years. “We have a long way to go.”

Yet he sees some aspects he likes.

“We have some of the pre-requisites to becoming a good team,” he said. “At this point in time, we have to see them more consistently. We’ve already played 17 (games). We should have enough understanding of the level that you need to be at and the things that are important to winning.

“We have some guys who are prideful. Some guys who are competitive. We have some guys who definitely want to win and more than want to win, try to go figure out what they can do to get us over the hump.

“You have to be able to play offense as hard as you play defense and to fight for those shots, to fight for those possessions. Every possession matters. Every rebound matters. Every communication matters.

“Trying to get guys to understand that sometimes is the hardest part of this job.”