Robert Morris basketball team routs Pitt-Greensburg

The Robert Morris men’s basketball program gladly accepted a nice-sized paycheck from Ohio State for traveling to Columbus, Ohio, earlier in the week for an anticipated spanking by the Buckeyes, who entered the season receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Ohio State won that game Monday night by 38 points.

Back on their Moon campus, the Colonials played a role reversal Wednesday night in their home opener against Division III Pitt-Greensburg, walloping the Bobcats, 84-49, at UPMC Events Center and providing UPG with a nice-sized paycheck of its own.

It’s a ritual for most schools in the early going of a college basketball season, where mismatches abound.

On this night, everyone was a winner.

Seemingly oblivious to the business side of things, Robert Morris junior guard Enoch Cheeks, who led the Colonials with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting, viewed it simply as another game.

“We went into this game like it was the next game and put the Ohio State game behind us,” said Cheeks, who led RMU with 17 points in its 91-53 loss to the Buckeyes two nights earlier.

Cheeks, who played 27 minutes against UPG, is picking up scoring slack in the early going for Robert Morris while senior guard Michael Green III is sidelined by the flu and graduate student Kahliel Spear, the Colonials’ leading scorer last season, is slow to start, combining for a total of just 14 points and 10 rebounds in the first two games.

Josh Corbin, a Winthrop transfer, added 12 points, and Jackson Last, a junior college transfer from Salt Lake (Utah) Community College, added 10 for Robert Morris (1-1), which led 45-24 at halftime.

Jojo France paced UPG (1-1) with 23 points.

The Bobcats and their second-year coach, Chris Klimchock, a former Greensburg Salem star who enjoyed a successful college playing career at Edinboro and Saint Vincent, opened the season a night earlier by beating NAIA Carlow, 79-65.

Getting a game against a Division I opponent, Klimchock said, should greatly benefit the Bobcats, who play in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference.

“Going against their athleticism, length and size will be very valuable for us down the road,” Klimchock said. “If we make a few more 3s, maybe it doesn’t get away from us early. I felt we ran our offense well and got open shots. They just didn’t fall.”

Robert Morris’ 50% 3-point shooting (14 for 28) buried UPG, which made just 2 of 22 attempts. Overall, the Bobcats were 17 for 53 (32.1 %), and RMU was 33 for 64 (50.8 %).

Afterwards, Toole fondly recalled Robert Morris’ 81-67 exhibition victory over Division III Saint Vincent in the 2012-13 season, when Klimchock was a senior point guard for the Bearcats. Now, Klimchock runs his own team, where his father Rick, the current Greensburg Salem girls basketball coach, has made time to serve as a volunteer assistant on his son’s staff.

“It’s unique when you have guys like that,” Toole said. “That family knows basketball. Chris grew up with it. I’m sure Rick was dragging him to the gym before he knew what a gym was. He’s a good basketball mind. I watched their team (Tuesday) night against Carlow, and he did some really good stuff. They have guys who can create mismatches. I think they’re going to have a really good season.”

Robert Morris plays another payoff games next Wednesday night against Division II West Virginia Wesleyan at UPMC Events Center. Pitt-Greensburg returns to the Division III ranks with a nonconference home game Saturday afternoon against Grove City.