Kam Woods Shines in Second Half as Robert Morris Beats Youngstown St. in Final Seconds

Just after Youngstown St. tied the game at 70 points a piece with six seconds to go, Robert Morris guard Kam Woods received the inbound pass from Josh Omojafo and proceeded to catch the Penguins’ pressure defense off guard as he bursted through three of them and took it coast-to-coast for the game-winning layup.

.@KamGlizzzy3 calls game! #GRIT pic.twitter.com/q2mdLC8C3I

— RMU Basketball (@RMUMBasketball) January 23, 2025

Woods scored 16 of his team-high 17 points in the second half but none of them were more important than the last which gave the Colonials (14-7, 6-4 HL) a 72-70 victory over a Penguins (12-8, 7-4 HL) team that already owned a win over them this season.

Robert Morris’ win over the Penguins on Wednesday night marked it’s first victory at the Beeghly Center since the 2022 season as well as extended the team’s winning streak to four games.

The Colonials opened up the scoring on a layup from Amarion Dickerson but quickly fell behind after Cris Carroll nailed a three and Nico Galette followed it up with another bucket.

The Penguins managed to hold onto a small lead over the next few minutes as every time that the Colonials would score, they would score right back.

The Colonials finally managed to re-claim the lead about halfway through the first half after D.J. Smith nailed the team’s first three of the game. Dickerson followed the triple up with a pair of free throws which gave the Colonials a 19-17 lead with 9:45 to go in the half.

The Penguins answered right back with an 8-0 run which was fueled by threes from Ty Harper and Juwan Maxey. The first big run of the game gave the Penguins a 6-point lead but the Colonials battled back throughout the remaining minutes of the half.

Over the final 5:55 of the first half, the Colonials outscored the Penguins 18-9 which gave them a 40-36 lead at the intermission. During that span, Robert Morris made 7-of-9 from the field which included 2-of-3 from behind the arc.

The Colonials scored the first four points of the second half and eventually capped off a 10-2 run with Woods’ first two field goals of the game. The back-to-back layups gave the Colonials a double-digit lead early in the second half but it would only go down from there.

The Penguins finally answered at the 17:03 mark of the second half with their first field goal of the half which was an and-one from David Wilkerson.

The team’s would go onto trade buckets over the next few minutes but the Penguins sprinkled in timely threes which helped them chip away at the once 10-point Colonial lead.

Following the under-12 media stoppage, Maxey began to get going as he put the Penguins on his back as they attempted to comeback. He made a layup and then came right back down to nail a three-pointer which cut the score to 59-56 in favor of the Colonials.

Maxey was the star of the game when these two teams first met earlier in the season but finished the first half of this meeting with just 6 points. That all changed in the second half as he finished the game leading all scorers with a career-high 22 points.

Maxey scored the next 12 points for the Penguins but unfortunately for him and the rest of Youngstown St., Alvaro Folgueiras also got going. Folgueiras traded buckets with Maxey as he scored eight-straight points for the Colonials. His counter helped keep the Colonials ahead by two-possessions as the teams entered the final two minutes of the game.

Robert Morris went on to turn the ball over with 1:34 left due to a shot-clock violation and it looked to be a costly mistake as Jason Nelson sunk a pair of free throws and then Maxey hit another three. Maxey’s third triple of the game made the score 69-68.

Following the three, the Colonials committed another turnover and just when it looked like the Penguins would finally jump ahead, Smith drew a charge on the defensive end of the floor, giving the ball back to the Colonials.

The Penguins were forced to foul Woods with 17 seconds to go and he made just one of the two attempts which kept it a two-point game with 17 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Harper drove to the basket and attempted to tie the game but missed. He then gathered his own miss in the air and tipped it in to tie the game at 70.

That is when Woods pulled off the late-game heroics and went coast-to-coast for the game-winning basket.

Aside from Woods’ team-high 17 points, the Colonials saw three others finish with at least 13 points in the win over the Penguins. Dickerson and Folgueiras each finished with 15 points and Smith ended with 13.

Folgueiras had a very efficient shooting night as he made 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point range.

The Colonials now return home after a successful three-game road trip and will face Oakland at the UPMC Events Center on Saturday afternoon. Robert Morris already owns a victory over Oakland as they downed the Golden Grizzlies on Jan. 4 by the score of 79-71.