Rio men end post-season losing slide

Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The good news for the University of Rio Grande men's basketball team was that it ended a six-game post-season losing slide on Monday night.
The bad news was that the victory came at a fairly hefty price.
The RedStorm saw each of its top three scorers go down with second half injuries in their 80-68 triumph over Indiana University Southeast in the opening round of the River States Conference Men's Basketball Championship at the Newt Oliver Arena.
Rio Grande, the tournament's No. 5 seed through a double blind draw which determined the bracket, improved to 14-8 with the win and advanced to Wednesday night's quarterfinal round to face fourth-seeded Midway University.

It was the RedStorm's first post-season win since a 61-56 decision over rival Shawnee State University in the opening round of the Mid-South Conference Tournament on Feb. 27, 2012.
The victory also snapped a five-game losing streak at the hands of IU-Southeast - the tourney's No. 6 seed - which ended its COVID-19-abbreviated season at 4-6.
However, the RedStorm will likely head to the quarterfinals without the services of sophomore guard Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) and sophomore forward Shiloah Blevins (South Webster, OH).
Tadic, Rio's season leader in both scoring and assists, was lost after suffering an apparent shoulder injury while chasing down a rebound with 1:36 left in the contest. At the time of his departure, he'd scored 12 points to go along with a game-high nine rebounds and four assists.
Blevins, the RedStorm's second-leading scorer and its top rebounder, suffered an ankle injury with 11:59 remaining to play. He did manage to return a little more than 3-1/2 minutes later after receiving additional taping in the trainer's room, but was limping noticeably after the game.
Also on the list of walking wounded for head coach Ryan Arrowood's squad was freshman guard Andrew Shull (Milton, WV), who went down with an ankle injury of his own with 2:48 left in the game. He hopped back to the bench after emerging from the trainer's room, but did not return.
Shull, the team's third-leading scorer for the season, netted a game-high 26 points in the win. He connected on each of his first 10 shots from the floor, including a trio of three-point goals, and finished the game 11-for-13 overall.
Shull's chances of availability for Wednesday's game look to be greater than either of his fallen teammates.
Rio Grande trailed just once in Monday's win, 8-7, following a layup by IU Southeast's Anthony Wales, Jr. with 16:52 left in the first half, but the RedStorm responded with a 24-8 run over the next 7-1/2 minutes to build a commanding 15-point lead and never looked back.
Rio shot a blistering 59.4 percent in the opening half (19-for-32) and, although the Grenadiers did slice the deficit down to eight with 3:30 left before the intermission, they failed to get any closer.
The RedStorm scored the first seven points of the second half to extend their lead to 19 points, 54-35, with 18:36 remaining in the game and led by no less than 11 points the rest of the way.
Rio's biggest lead of the night was 20 points, 76-56, following a three-pointer by freshman Caleb Wallis (Jackson, OH) with 6:51 left to play.
Senior Cam Schreiter (Mason, OH) added 14 points in the winning effort, while freshman Redeetris Richardson (Atlanta, GA) had 11 points and seven rebounds in his first action since suffering a concussion in a loss at Indiana Wesleyan on Jan. 27.
IU Southeast finished 29-for-64 overall (45.3%) and committed only seven turnovers, but went just 3-for-15 from beyond the three-point arc and was out rebounded, 43-29.
John Kinnaird, Jr., who actually began his collegiate career as a junior varsity player at Rio Grande, led the Grenadiers with a career-high 21 points and three assists.
David Burton added 17 points and six rebounds in a losing cause, while Wales, Jr. netted 10 points.
Rio Grande's game at Midway on Wednesday is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Live video on a pay-per-view basis will be available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/rsc.
The RedStorm and the Eagles did not meet during the regular season.