Eagles soar past RedStorm men

Rio Grande Sports Information
CINCINNATI, Ohio - For a span of five minutes bridging the end of the first half and the start of the second half, the University of Rio Grande had things going exactly as they wanted.
But on either side of the RedStorm's success, Cincinnati Christian University did more than enough damage to earn an easy win.
The host Eagles built a 21-point first half lead and then survived Rio's comeback bid before pulling away for a 100-81 victory, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's basketball action at Jill Rendel Court.
Cincinnati Christian improved to 10-13 overall and 5-7 in league play with the victory.
Rio Grande slipped to 9-16 overall and 3-9 in the RSC with the loss. The RedStorm remained one game ahead of Ohio Christian - an 80-68 loser to Brescia on Saturday - for the fourth and final post-season spot in the conference's East Division.

Rio found itself staring at a 21-point deficit when a jumper win the lane by Dez Marshall gave CCU a 47-26 lead with 2:44 left in the first half, but the RedStorm scored 11 of the final 14 points before the break and the first three points of the second stanza to close within 50-40 after senior Earl Russell (Warrington, England) hit one of two free throw tries with 17:27 remaining in the game.
But the Eagles responded with an 11-2 run of their own over the next three minutes to push the lead back to 19 points, 61-42, after a three-pointer by Micah James and the RedStorm got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
CCU's largest lead of the day was 23 points, 79-56, after a layup by Blake Walsman with 6:42 left to play.
Walsman, the reigning RSC Player of the Week, led a quintet of double-digit scorers for the Eagles with 22 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and a game-best seven assists.
Kobe Brown also had 22 points for Eagles, while Tim Abel finished with 14, James netted 11 and Marshall tallied 10.
CCU shot 62 percent in the second half (18-for-29) and finished at 56.5 percent for the game (35-for-62).
The Eagles also went 10-for-23 from three-point range, 20-for-23 at the free throw line and enjoyed a 34-27 edge in rebounding.
Rio Grande also finished with five players in double figures.
Junior Hadith Tiggs (Mayfield Heights, OH) led the RedStorm with a career-high 18 points, while Russell had 13 points and sophomore Kyle Lamotte (Mason, OH) tallied 11 points and a team-high five rebounds.
Juniors Greg Wallace (Montego Bay, Jamaica) and Cameron Schreiter (Mason, OH) finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Rio Grande returns to action against No. 15 Indiana University East on Tuesday night.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Newt Oliver Arena.