Indianapolis, Ind. – The Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped an 89-78 decision to Robert Morris on Tuesday night in the Championship Game of the 2025 Barbasol Horizon League Championship at Corteva Coliseum.
The Penguins (21-13) were making their first title-game appearance since joining the Horizon League and fourth overall in school history. RMU (26-8) advances to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015 following the win.
For YSU, Juwan Maxey scored 23 points, while Nico Galette had 21 points, and Gabe Dynes recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Galette was named to the All-Tournament Team following the game.
In the second half, RMU found the hot hand from beyond the 3-point arc. The Colonials made eight 3-pointers on 12 attempts and for the game converted 15-of-30 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. RMU was led by Josh Omojafo who had 24 points and 13 rebounds.
For the game, Youngstown State was 27-of-63 (43 percent) while RMU went 29-of-62 (47 percent). After the teams combined for 63 points, Robert Morris scored 55 in the second half while YSU scored 49.
In the second half, the Guins fought back and was able to get as close as 54-52 at the 11:23 mark. With the ball, Ty Harper drove to the hoop and was short on a dunk. On the ensuing possession, RMU's Josh Omojafo made a 3-pointer to push the cushion back to five.
A pair of free throws by Jason Nelson got YSU back within three, but the Colonials again pushed the lead to 63-55 with 8:22 remaining. Fifty seconds later a Maxey 3-pointer brought the Guins to within 65-60, but RMU went on an 8-2 run in a span of 2:34 to go on top 73-62.
From that point, YSU battled but could get no closer than seven points the rest of the game.
RMU opened the contest scoring the first 11 points before YSU finally settled in. The more-rested Colonials made their first three shots of the contest, including back-to-back 3-pointers at the outset
Trailing 17-7, the Guins scored seven unanswered points as Maxey drained a 3-pointer, Dynes made a layup and Carroll converted a layup of his own.
Siem Uijtendaal's first 3-pointer of the night brought the Guins within 19-17 before the Colonials responded with a 10-3 spurt.
Down 29-20, Galette made a turnaround jumper from eight feet, Maxey made a layup off a nice pass from Carroll, Dynes drained two free throws and Maxey hit an off-balance 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to get within 30-29. But RMU finished the half with four points in the 1:30 of the half made the Colonials advantage 34-29 at the intermission.
