ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan University men's basketball team overcame many obstacles during its 2025-26 season, including injuries and the growing pains that come with a revamped roster.

The Redhawks also displayed determination, resilience and heart while proving that the old adage, "it's not how you start, it's how you finish," still rings true.

Roberts began the season with nine healthy players and five new starters. The roster was further depleted when top scorer Collin Woods missed a month with an injury and guard Khalik Gardner was sidelined in December.

Roberts lost seven straight games and had a 1-9 record at the end of first semester.

Through it all, the Redhawks never stopped working.

"Coming back from Christmas break we only had one win, and we told ourselves that wasn't going to happen the second half of the season," freshman guard Jordan Brown said.

Roberts opened 2026 with a win over Redeemer College but went 1-5 in East Coast Conference games in January while adjusting to lineup and rotation changes as Woods, Gardner and Mohamed Soumahoro, a game-changing forward who hadn't played in a game since Dec. 3, 2024, returned from injuries.

February was a totally different story.

The Redhawks, who entered the month with two conference wins, put together a four-game streak with victories over Mercy, Molloy, Queens and the University of the District of Columbia to climb into contention for one of the six spots in the ECC Championship Tournament.

"It starts in practice where we pushed each other every day," said Brown, who ranked second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game. "We knew before each game that it was going to be a dogfight."

Losses to the College of Staten Island and Daemen forced the Redhawks into a win-to-get-in scenario in their regular-season finale against D'Youville.

Tied at 77 with a minute to play, Roberts outscored the Saints 7-5 the rest of the way to secure an 84-82 victory and the sixth seed in the ECC Championship. Woods led the way with 19 points while freshman Jaden Lee scored 17 and Soumahoro made 7 of 8 shots from the floor to finish with 16.

"The guys in our locker room were the only ones that thought we had a chance," said Woods, a junior who earned third-team All-ECC honors and averaged 15.3 points per game.

The Redhawks opened the postseason at CSI, a team that had defeated them twice during the regular season and quickly fell behind 21-4 before overcoming a 16-point second-half deficit and coming away with a 79-76 win to earn their fourth trip to the ECC semifinals in the past five years.

Gardner came off the bench to score 20 points while Lee and Brown scored 14 apiece. Woods was limited to six points but tied for the team lead with eight rebounds and dished out seven assists.

"You want to play your best ball come tournament time in March," Woods said. "I feel like we had a deep roster and anyone could have their day. We had a lot of people step up and I think that's why we were able to win some of those games."

The victory set up a matchup with perennial conference power Saint Thomas Aquinas College, which won five straight ECC titles from 2020-24, on top-seeded Daemen's home court.

Woods scored 14 points as Roberts built an eight-point lead at the half. The Spartans rallied to tie the game at 42, but the Redhawks withstood the charge and took control with a 10-0 run on their way to a 76-62 victory and their first trip to the ECC Championship Game.

Woods paced a balanced Roberts offense with 18, Keonjay Carter added 17, Brown scored 14 and Gardner added 13. Brown went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line as Roberts made 20 of its 23 attempts from the line in the second half.

Roberts returned to suburban Buffalo about 12 hours after the semifinal win with a chance to make history and earn its first ECC men's basketball title and steal a bid to the NCAA Division II Championship.

But it was not to be.

Daemen's inside prowess proved to be too much for the Redhawks and the magical run came to an end with an 86-66 defeat at the hands of the fourth-ranked team in the nation.

Woods scored 22 points, Soumahoro scored 18 and Brown added 14 for a team that won seven of nine games to reach the title contest. Woods and Brown were selected to the All-Tournament Team.

"We took down three, we took down two and we fell short to one, but we fought and that's all that matters," said Brown, while listing the seeds of Roberts' postseason opponents.

The Redhawks certainly did battle, galvanizing their fan base with wins in three games where a loss would have ended their season.

"The credit is all to these guys," head coach Mark Saladzius said. "We just kind of give our suggestions as coaches and they go out there and execute and make things happen on the floor. I am just proud of these guys and the effort and the time that they put in."

Roberts finished 10-17, but the record does not begin to tell the full story of a season that started slowly and finished in a memorable fashion that can serve as a foundation for future teams.

"When you go on a run and you get a chance to play for a championship, that's a special year," Saladzius said in a press conference after the ECC title game. "Regardless of whether it's a win or a loss, you earn that opportunity. We know what we have and the guys know what they have. It's just going to be a determination if the program recognizes that the standard is to continue to be here and that it's not an anomaly that happens one time."