ROBERT MORRIS MEN’S BASKETBALL VS. WRIGHT STATE IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINALS AT THE UPMC EVENTS CENTER ON MARCH 6, 2025. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT

“Down here it’s just winners and losers and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line.”

That lyric, from the Bruce Springsteen classic “Atlantic City,” is a favorite of Robert Morris University men’s basketball coach (and Red Bank, New Jersey, native) Andy Toole. It’s also an inspiration.

Which explains why the words are displayed on a wall inside Toole’s office for all to see and appreciate — as many times as it takes.

“It’s what we do every day, right?” Toole maintained. “That’s the fight every day, is not to get on the wrong side. And if you do, how do you get back up and start fighting to get back to that winning side?

“There’s winning in recruiting. There’s winning in your daily practice. There’s winning in your workouts. There’s winning in everything that we’re trying to accomplish. I see the world through a competitive lens. I think it’s always: Did you win or did you lose? And if you lost, did you do everything in your power to win? Did you learn from it if you didn’t win?

“It just rings so true to how I get out of bed in the morning and what I think about all day long.”

On Thursday night, Toole and the Colonials were on the wrong side of that line at the outset. Almost eight minutes into their Horizon League quarterfinal matchup against Wright State, they were trailing,18-8, and their play had been ragged enough that Toole felt compelled to call a timeout.

Robert Morris had taken the floor as the Horizon League’s regular-season champion, with a stellar 23-8 overall record — and with the Horizon League’s just-anointed Coach of the Year (Toole), Player of the Year (Alvaro Folgueiras) and Defensive Player of the Year (Amarion Dickerson).

But none of that mattered with 12:25 left in the first half and the Colonials down 10. To get to the NCAA Tournament, the ultimate goal, Robert Morris will have to win the Horizon League’s postseason tournament and secure an automatic bid.

Failing that, an at-large invitation isn’t going to be forthcoming from the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Colonials know it.

That line had been drawn well in advance, and Toole and his players were unquestionably aware of the danger associated with being on the wrong side of it, even temporarily.

A 9-0 run coming out of that timeout got Robert Morris going — and well on its way, as it turned out, to an emphatic, 83-62 triumph that delighted the UPMC Events Center-record crowd of 4,058.

There are still two more mountains to climb, starting with a Horizon League semifinal on Monday night in Indianapolis against Oakland (an NCAA Tournament qualifier last season).

It remains to be seen how what has become the best story in Pittsburgh sports ends. But when Robert Morris defends, rebounds and shares the ball as well as it did for the last 32 minutes and change against Wright State — as well as the Colonials have in winning eight straight and 14 of their last 15 games — there is, indeed, “Reason to Believe,” to quote another Springsteen tune.

There’s another element to what could be a Cinderella run for RMU. Despite going 10-22 a season ago, it could be argued Toole and his program have something such as this coming.

Back in March of 2020, the Colonials defeated Saint Francis, 77-67, in the championship game of the Northeast Conference postseason tournament on their home floor. They cut down the nets in celebration, having qualified for RMU’s ninth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 2015.

Then the Big Dance was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

“Incredibly painful,” is how Toole recalled the experience five years later.

If there’s such a thing as Basketball Justice, somebody owes the Colonials one.

“I certainly believe in the Basketball Gods,” Toole offered. “I don’t know if there’s a Basketball Justice out there. They’re probably closely related cousins, maybe?

“I do think if you do right by the game and you try to do the best you can and you try to figure out whatever the situation is without, maybe, bitching, complaining and moaning too much, you get rewarded at some point. Just like anything else, sometimes you hope those rewards come sooner than later.

“You know, maybe this is that. I know these guys have been awesome to coach. They’ve been a lot of fun for me to coach and be around. I’m hoping that we can continue to keep this thing going.”

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.