A jumper by Kyle Stewart and a three from Craig Croy got the Bulldogs within 17-15. But poor free throw shooting enabled Robinson to build the lead back up. St. Anthony missed seven straight from the foul line during the second quarter. Schmidt knocked down another from behind the arc and the Maroons led 26-18 at intermission.

“We make those free throws and it’s a different game at halftime,” Rincker said. “But we also forced some things and never got into a flow offensively. Despite all that, we still had some good looks. We hit a couple of those shots and you never what can happen. The shots definitely didn’t go in the hoop for us tonight.”

Despite the cold shooting and miscues, the Bulldogs stayed within striking distance in the third period. And after Max Koenig hit a shot from long range and Adam Rudibaugh scored on back-to-back possessions, the hosts were within 32-28 with 2:39 to play in the third quarter.

But from that point on, it was all Robinson.

The Maroons got two short jumpers from 6’6” sophomore Noah Gilmore and closed the period on an 8-2 run to take a 40-30 advantage into the final eight minutes.

Stewart had a three-point play to open the fourth period to make it 40-33. But over the final six minutes, the Bulldogs missed nine straight shots and turned the ball over eight times. Robinson ran off 10 straight points to build a 17-point cushion and finished with the 14-point victory.

“This was just game No. 1 for us,” Rincker said. “We can learn from this and get better. These kids just need to play and gain some confidence. This week provides a great opportunity to gain some of that confidence against some good ballclubs.”

Rylan King and Gilmore led Robinson with 14 and 12 points respectively. Wesley Jackson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds and helped the Maroons to a 26-18 rebounding advantage. Robinson shot 53 percent from the field, connecting on 19-of-36 attempts. They were 3-for-9 from three-point range and 9-for-18 from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs got 12 points from Croy and 9 from Stewart, who also had a team-high six rebounds. St. Anthony shot just 31 percent overall, making 14-of-45 shots. They were 3-for-17 from behind the arc and only 5-of-13 from the foul line. The Bulldogs also committed 25 turnovers.

Action in the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament resumes today (Tuesday) with three games – Mattoon vs. Rantoul at 5 p.m.; Effingham vs. Breese Central at 6:30 p.m.; and Teutopolis vs. Highland at 8 p.m.

The Bulldogs will return to action Wednesday. They will play Breese Central at 8 p.m.