Robert Morris was left with a bad taste in mouth after Thursday’s overtime loss at home to Green Bay, the Horizon League’s top team.

Making matters worse, guard TJ Wainwright went down with an injury, which kept him out of Saturday afternoon’s matchup at UPMC Events Center vs. Milwaukee.

Facing an opponent that also was fresh off an overtime loss Thursday (to Youngstown State), the Colonials (10-15, 6-8 Horizon League) were able to channel the right energy, coming out on top 71-60.

Markeese Hastings led Robert Morris with 21 points, and Stephaun Walker chipped in 16. Both finished just shy of double-doubles with nine rebounds apiece.

Two other Colonials, Justice Williams (13) and Jackson Last (11), also scored in the double digits.

After emerging from an early six-point hole, Robert Morris used a 10-2 run over the final five minutes of the opening half to take a nine-point lead into the locker room.

The Colonials stayed comfortably ahead for the majority of the second half, but, with about five minutes remaining, the Panthers had clawed their way back from a double-digit deficit to trail just 53-50.

Immediately thereafter, a three-point play from Hastings plus two free throws by Jackson Last inflated the Colonials’ lead back to eight.

The closest Milwaukee would come from there would be seven.

“Focus, being humble, understanding that people go on runs, just being able to hold our composure when things got tight and sticking together,” Hastings said about pulling off the win. “I feel like we did a very good job sticking together today even when things went bad. We were able to pull it off because of the togetherness that we had today.”

Robert Morris faced a tall task in defending Panthers guard BJ Freeman, who was averaging 18.5 points per game.

He led all scorers with 23 on 7-of-20 shooting but scored 15 of his points in the first half and none over the final 4 minutes, 48 seconds before halftime.

The Colonials managed to limit him to six points in the second half.

“BJ Freeman’s a first-team all-league-level player,” said Colonials coach Andy Toole. “ … As he tried to drive it, I just thought we took away some of that space and stayed in front of him.”

Milwaukee did some damage early from beyond the arc, hitting four 3-pointers within the first 4:15 of the game. But the Colonials allowed only five 3-pointers the rest of the way.

“We just needed to tighten some things up on the defensive side, and then from there, I thought we were extra urgent on some of their shooters,” Toole said.

On the day, Robert Morris went 24 of 55 (43.6%) from the field, hitting 8 of 26 (30.8%) shots from 3-point range.

The Colonials enjoyed a solid performance on the glass, out-rebounding Milwaukee, 42-31.

Toole said Wainwright is day-to-day after landing awkwardly Thursday against Green Bay.

He was present on Robert Morris’ bench Saturday, dressed in street clothes.

The Colonials next play Wednesday at Youngstown State.

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