Spear propels Robert Morris to 72-38 romp over Green Bay

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Kahliel Spear scored 19 points, and Robert Morris cruised to a 72-38 victory over Green Bay on Saturday night.

Spear added six rebounds for the Colonials (9-12, 4-6 Horizon League). Enoch Cheeks scored 13 points with eight assists and four steals.

“We’ve talked so many times over the years how hard it is to win an NCAA Division I game,” RMU coach Andrew Toole said in a news release. “It doesn’t matter if it’s at home or on the road. It doesn’t matter about the record. You have to go and play the game. I think we thought it was going to come easy offensively in the first half, but Green Bay makes you work and after watching their games on tape they’re a solid defensive team. In the second half we did a better job moving the ball to get open looks. Hopefully tonight kickstarts a good stretch for us, especially after how we played in the second half.”

Robert Morris had its best defensive performance since joining the Horizon League, holding Green Bay to 21.6 % shooting (11 for 51).

“Defense usually determines whether you win or lose and offense determines by how much,” Toole said. “I thought our defense carried us through the first half when our offense wasn’t clicking. We have to keep working and keep getting better. Our focus needs to be about preparing and doing the right things to make us successful. We’ll look forward to a good week of practice and get ready for some tough games coming up at home.”

Randy Tucker scored 11 points to lead the Phoenix (2-19, 1-9), who have lost 11 straight. He added seven rebounds. Clarence Cummings III and Jack Rose scored six each.

Spear become the 19th RMU player to surpass 500 career rebounds. He is 40 points shy of becoming the 14th student-athlete in program history to eclipse career totals of 1,000 points and 500 rebounds at RMU.

Robert Morris hosts Detroit Mercy at home Friday. Detroit Mercy features the second-leading scorer in men’s Division I history, Antoine Davis, who has 3,274 points. He is averaging 26.2 points per game this season.