Robert Morris Rides Dominate First Half, Career Day From Ryan Prather Jr. to Win Over UIC

MOON TWP, Pa. — Sometimes a heartbreak can help a person, or in this case a team, turn a new leaf.

After suffering a crushing one-point overtime loss over the weekend while not shooting well in the process, Robert Morris (4-3) bounced back in a huge way on Wednesday as it beat a tough Illinois-Chicago (4-3) team by double-digits, despite being two-point underdogs on their own court.

The Colonials used a dominate first half in which they outscored the Flames 50-29, and a career day by Ryan Prather Jr., who scored a game-high 25 points with six made three-pointers to take down the Flames by the score of 88-74.

Prather’s previous career high was a 19-point outing against Chatham last year.

That’s a #BobbyMo 𝐖𝐈𝐍! #GRIT pic.twitter.com/doaHw0YkVl

— RMU Basketball (@RMUMBasketball) November 26, 2025

Robert Morris jumped on UIC early as it jumped out to a quick 13-3 lead by the time that the first media stoppage came around.

Ta’Zir Smith helped lead the charge early as he hit the team’s first three of the game which was followed by a three from Albert Vargas.

The Flames responded well to the initial pressure from the Colonials as they battled and cut the deficit to just five by the under-12 media timeout due to two small scoring runs of 4-0 and 5-0.

The Colonials extended their lead back out to eight, at 23-18 on Vargas’ second triple of the afternoon but the Flames answered with a three of their own. That would be the closest that the Flames got over the remainder of the game though as Vargas went onto hit another three shortly after to make it an eight-point advantage before the Colonials really pulled away.

Prather’s first of six threes pushed the Colonials’ lead into double-digits with the score 32-20 at the 7:48 mark of the opening half and it only grew from there as they led at halftime 50-29. The first-half explosion was fueled by unselfish passing and a flurry of second-chance threes.

Illinois-Chicago looked like a different team to start the second half mainly because of the play of Rashund Washington Jr., who did not score in the first half. Washington scored 12 of the Flames’ first 14 points of the second half which included a personal 10-0 run that cut the Colonials’ lead down to just 15 as his second and-one of the run made the score 58-43.

The Colonials ended the Flames, and Washington’s run with a three by Darius Livingston Jr., which was just one of the team’s 15 made threes in the game.

The two teams went onto trade buckets over the next eight or so minutes which kept the Colonials’ lead right around the 15-point mark. Robert Morris led 78-62 with 5:19 left in the game but as the Flames tried to make one last push, the Colonials answered with efficient free throw shooting which preserved the double-digit lead through the closing minutes.

Prather led all scorers with 25 points while DeSean Goode was a force down low as he totaled 17 points and seven rebounds as Nikolaos Chitikoudis had his worst game from the field since joining the team, and Josh Hill missed a second-straight game due to injury.

Albert Vargas had a solid outing as he flirted with a triple-double with 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Livingston added 10 points off of the bench and two others scored at least 8 points.

Robert Morris will remain at home over the weekend as it hosts Southern Utah and Stetson into the UPMC Events Center for the latest rendition of the Urban-Bennett Invitational. The Colonials will play Southern Utah on Friday and Stetson on Sunday.