Freshman Shines as Robert Morris Completes Regular Season Sweep of Wright State

Wright State (18-11, 13-5) had already clinched a share of the Horizon League regular season title and had the chance to win the title outright with a win over a red-hot Robert Morris (19-10, 11-7) team on Sunday but failed to do so as the Colonials controlled the game from start-to-finish en route to the 81-68 final.

Despite a relatively quiet day from Ryan Prather Jr., the team’s leading scorer, the Colonials used a career outing from freshman guard Darius Livingston Jr. and solid showings from forwards DeSean Goode and Nikolaos Chitikoudis to outmatch the first-place Raiders for a second time this season.

Notables

As stated above, Robert Morris did not get the usual scoring surge from Ryan Prather Jr., who averages a team-high 15.6 points per game, as the winger scored just 6 points in the win, four of which came at the free throw line.

On most nights, that could have been the downfall for the Colonials, but freshman guard Darius Livingston Jr. made sure that it would not be on Sunday. Livingston has played some of his best ball after the team lost Albert Vargas due to an injury which forced the freshman into a starting role but his 24-point outing against Wright State was his best game yet.

On top of setting a career mark with 24 points, he also recorded a career-high six three-pointers as he missed just one on the day, and even that nearly went in as it spun in and then back out. In total, Livingston shot 9-of-12 from the field in the win over the Raiders.

Despite the monster game from Livingston, Robert Morris needed much more than just that to be able to beat the Raiders in the fashion that they did and they got just what they needed from their frontcourt.

Entering the day, DeSean Goode and Nikolaos Chitikoudis sat atop of the Horizon League in double-doubles, something that has became usual for the likely All-League frontcourt duo. Goode has nine such games while Chitikoudis is right behind him with eight.

While neither added to their total on Sunday, both were gigantic factors in the win. Chitikoudis parlayed his best game of the season from earlier this week into a 17-point, nine-rebound game while Goode beat the Raiders’ help defense all game as he went 8-of-10 from the field and scored 16 points.

Ta’Zir Smith, who has come on as of late for Robert Morris, quietly finished as the team’s fourth-leading scorer with 15 off of the bench, most of which came from free throws late in the game.

All of that offense must leave a sweet taste in Andy Toole’s mouth, but like in every other game during the team’s five game winning streak, the victories have been fueled by the Colonials’ improved defensive identity.

Over the last five games, all of which have been wins, Robert Morris has held its opponents to 69 points or less and more impressively, held its opponents to just 1.01 points per possession. During the winning streak, the Colonials’ improved defensive effort has more often than not, turned into offense on the other end of the floor.

Not only did the win help Robert Morris move into a three-way tie of second place in the standings, it prevented Wright State from clinching the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament, at least for one more game.

With the Colonials’ regular-season sweep of the Raiders, they still have an outside shot to share a claim of the regular season title, and if that happened, the Colonials would earn the top seed in the league tournament for a second-consecutive season.

For that to happen, Robert Morris would need to win its remaining two games and for Wright State to lose its last two games, and in a league that has shown as much parity this season as the Horizon has, that is not out of the realm of possibilities.

Game Thread

The start of the game should have served as a sign of things to come as Darius Livingston Jr. sunk two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game which helped Robert Morris jump out to an early 8-3 lead.

While Livingston helped get the Colonials’ offense into motion, it was Nikolaos Chitikoudis that helped them build a lead over the next couple of minutes as he scored eight of the team’s first 18 points before DeSean Goode took a turn scoring in bunches. After taking an 18-13 lead on the fast starts from Livingston and Chitikoudis, Goode went onto score six of the Colonials’ next 14 points.

After the three took turns showing off, the Colonials held a 32-24 lead that the Raiders tried to cut into but Livingston nailed his third of six threes to make the score 35-27 with just under two minutes to play in the half.

Ryan Prather Jr.’s first of two field goals in the game came at the first half buzzer as he rose up for a buzzer-beating baseline jumper that found nothing but net and gave Robert Morris a 39-29 lead at halftime.

After another pair of threes from Livingston, along with Goode chipping in, Robert Morris quickly grew its lead to 14 at 57-43 and it looked all but over as the Colonials were out-hustling the Raiders.

That would not be the case though as Wright State went on an 11-2 run over the next four minutes and were down just 59-54 with a little under six minutes to go, but as they did all game when the Raiders went on a run, the Colonials answered right back as they matched with an 11-2 run themselves.

Following the back-and-forth scoring runs, Robert Morris grew its lead back out to 14 points at 70-56 and time was running out for Wright State. As they tried to mount a late rally, it was the free-throw shooting of Ta’Zir Smith that helped close the game out as he went 6-for-6 from the line over the final two minutes of the game.

Up Next

Robert Morris will close out the regular season this week as they host a red-hot Detroit Mercy squad on Wednesday before hosting Cleveland State on Saturday for Senior Night.

While both games will be tough sledding, Wednesday’s matchup against the Titans should be a 40-minute battle as they and the Colonials are two of the hottest teams in the Horizon League as of late. Detroit Mercy is winners of four straight while Robert Morris’ win streak is now at five.