By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Sean Smith and Ryan Myers knew exactly what their coach was going to say.

Long before Western Illinois coach Chad Boudreau took the blame for Wednesday’s 87-73 loss to Green Bay in the home opener at Western Hall, Smith and Myers came into the Hall of Fame Room and took the heat off their coach.

“The coaches gave us the blueprint to win this game,” Myers said. “It’s on us. Coach is going to take accountability for everything. But it’s on us. He gave us the blueprint to win this game.”

“It’s on us,” Smith said. “We have to do better.”

Boudreau appreciated his players’ words.

“They’re mature, they’re great leaders,” he said. “Ultimately it’s on me. It’s our first home game. It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed.”

The Leathernecks (1-2), back at home after a split of their season-opening road trip to California for a win at San Jose State and a loss at Pepperdine, never had a chance against the Phoenix (1-2). Green Bay was up 18-7 after the first eight minutes and led 47-26 at halftime.

“They drug us all over the place. They drug us from here to Farmington,” said Boudreau, who grew up in the southeast Iowa town of Farmington. “You get down to a team like that, you let them get going, and it’s a mountain that’s too hard to climb.”

“We got punched in the mouth,” Myers said. “They came out, they executed.”

“We came out slow,” Smith said. “We didn’t play our game.”

Green Bay shot 51.4% in the first half, making 8-of-19 3-pointers. The Leathernecks shot just 31.3%, missing easy looks inside while also going 3-of-10 from the free-throw line.

“It’s on me,” Boudreau repeated. “We came out flat. I thought I saw it in shoot-around, I tried to rev them up.

“They just carved us up.”

The Leathernecks had no answer for Green Bay’s Anthony Roy, who played all 40 minutes and scored 35 points. Roy made 11-of-15 shots, including 8-of-12 3-pointers, at one point laughing as he headed down court after making a three.

“Roy is a great player,” Boudreau said. “Not a good player, a great player. I thought their staff did a good job of getting him in situations to score, and into situations where he could make other guys better by playing off them. We just couldn’t get stops.”

Western Illinois outscored Green Bay 47-40 in the second half, but the damage had been done much earlier.

“We knew we had to pick up the energy, play better,” Smith said. “We weren’t performing.”

Myers led the Leathernecks with 26 points. Smith had 21.

Western Illinois plays host to Central Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.

The players vowed to make sure there wouldn’t be a repeat performance.

“We can’t get punched in the mouth like that on our home court,” Myers said. “It’s definitely something to learn from.”