Robert Morris Uses Stout Defensive Performance to Neutralize High-Scoring IU Indy

MOON TWP, Pa. — When the defense is humming as well as it did on Wednesday, Robert Morris (14-9, 6-6) can compete with anybody in the Horizon League. The Colonials proved that to be the case in their 75-58 win over IU Indy (6-17, 2-10) as they effectively neutralized the league’s highest scoring offense which scored 96 points against them just two weeks ago.

The Colonials entered the game in desperate need of a win in order to keep pace with some of the teams ahead of them in the standings, and to avenge the 96-93 overtime loss to the Jaguars earlier this month.

At times, especially in the first half, it looked like it would be another high-scoring affair with little to no defense being played but that all changed after halftime as the Colonials ramped up the defensive intensity which allowed them to go on a late 18-5 run to finally pull away from the Jaguars in the 16-point victory.

Notables

Ryan Prather Jr. led Robert Morris to the win as he finished as the game’s leading scorer with 20 points as he made 60% of his shots including going 4-of-5 from three-point range.

Prather had a relatively quiet first half but was the main reason that the Colonials managed to pull away from the Jaguars in the second half as he scored 11 of his 20 points during the 18-5 run that lasted nearly the entire last 11 minutes of the game.

His 20 points against IU Indy also marked his fifth 20-point game in the team’s last six games.

While Prather acted as the closer against the Jaguars, it was the offensive production of Darius Livingston Jr. off of the bench that carried the Colonials to a three-point halftime lead as he entered halftime with 9 points on three made three-pointers.

The freshman added a fourth triple early in the second half and eventually finished with 14 points which was good for second on the team in terms of scoring. His four three-pointers mark a career high as he made three triples in a game five different times this season.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw the Jaguars shoot nearly 50% from the field, the Colonials defense went to work in the second half as they limited the opposition to just 36% from the field as well as not allowing them to get to the free throw line which is where the Jaguars did most of their damage in the overtime heartbreaker earlier this month.

In the game earlier this season, the Jaguars converted 26 of their 35 free throw attempts as their fast-paced offense often caught Colonial defenders in bad spots which led to foul call after foul call. The Jags currently lead the Horizon League in total points (1,947) and points per game (84.7).

The Colonials used better communication and a more sustained effort on that side of the court to not only cut the Jaguars’ total offensive production nearly in half, but also limited the free throw attempts to just five, the lowest amount of free throws any team has attempted against the Colonials all season.

Game Thread

Kaleb Brown got the game and the Robert Morris offense going early as he scored the team’s first five points with a three and then a spinning euro layup but IU Indy matched with a three and a layup of its own.

After Livingston knocked down his first three of the game that gave the Colonials a 14-10 lead, the Jaguars went on the game’s first extended scoring run of 5-0 and jumped ahead by one. The Colonials answered with a 5-0 run themselves but immediately surrendered another 5-0 run right back which gave the Jaguars a 20-19 lead.

The Jaguars went on another 5-0 streak after the under-eight timeout and led the Colonials by three before Prather started his night offensively. Prather buried a three to tie the game up at 27 a piece before a pair of free throws put them ahead for good.

That was around the point that the Colonials buckled up their boot straps on defense and the game changed from that point forward as the Jaguars never managed to tie the game or take a lead again.

With that said, IU Indy did use a 6-2 run late in the first half to tie the game at 33-33 before Ta’Zir Smith sunk a three with 2:09 left too put them up 36-33 which ended up being the score at the halftime intermission as both teams entered the break on long scoring droughts.

Robert Morris opened the second half up the same exact way that it did the first, a bucket from Brown that was followed by a three from former IU Indy star, DeSean Goode. That spurt put the Colonials ahead 41-33 early in the second half.

The Jaguars clawed back over the next handful of minutes and cut the Colonials’ lead to just four points at the first media stoppage of the second half but a 9-2 run on the other side of the timeout gave them their first double-digit lead of the night at 56-45.

The Jaguars tried to throw a punch back as a three and a dunk in transition gave them a little bit of momentum but as quickly as they grabbed hold of the momentum, the Colonials snatched it right back as they scored the next nine points which Prather capped off with second three-pointer of the game. The run re-established a double-digit lead for the Colonials at 65-51.

The Jaguars ended the run with a three of their own but Prather went right back at them for a layup and eventually a pair of back-to-back threes just before the under-four timeout. By then, the Colonials lead was 74-56 and they were able to coast throughout the remaining couple of minutes en route to the team’s largest win within the Horizon League this season.

Up Next

Robert Morris will now hit the road for a contest against Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday before returning home to host first-place Wright State next Wednesday in a game that will be featured on ESPNU.

The Colonials already played the Mastodons this season, which ended up being a close five-point loss at the UPMC Events Center in early January, but they have yet to face off against the red-hot Raiders.