ALTOONA, Pa. -- It wasn't the ideal result for Robert Morris as the Colonials lost 78-77 against Cleveland State Friday night at the UPMC Events Center, but it's progress.
The loss showed that Robert Morris is almost there to get back into the win column and the Colonials were able to stick around with Cleveland State even with leading scorer Rasheem Dunn leaving the program Thursday afternoon.
In Dunn's place, it was senior forward Kahliel Spear who led the way for Robert Morris scoring a career-high 25 points while also adding six rebounds, to assists and a pair of blocks.
"Disappointed that we were one point short, but really proud of the fight the guys showed for 40 minutes," head coach Andrew Toole said. "That from here on out has to be a non-negotiable. We also have to clean up a couple possessions where we had some breakdowns that were really, really critical."
The Colonials have struggled to play a complete game this season and their record shows it falling to 2-12 on the season with only one win coming against a Division 1 opponent.
"This game and Saint Francis PA were probably the two games where we played as close to 40 minutes as possible with the requisite effort to win Division I basketball games," Toole said. That has to be non-negotiable as we continue through the rest of the year."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE SCHEDULE
The Colonials will take on Purdue Fort Wayne Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the UPMC Events Center.
THE CONTENT
Visit our Robert Morris team page for everything.