Rio men pull away from Golden Bears

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Wins against West Virginia University-Tech have been few and far between in recent years for the University of Rio Grande.
     Perhaps that's why Saturday afternoon's matchup between the two River States Conference East Division rivals turned out to be an eye-opening affair.
     The host RedStorm trailed just twice - by one point on both occasions inside the game's first six minutes - and went on to an eventual 80-65 triumph over the Golden Bears at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande won for a sixth consecutive time, moving to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
     It was also just the second win for the RedStorm in the last 13 meetings between the two schools.
     WVU-Tech dropped to 4-6 overall and 2-2 in the RSC with a fourth straight loss.
     The Golden Bears' only leads of the day came at 3-2 and 5-4 - the latter of which was after a bucket by Keondre King with 14:02 left in the first half.
     Rio Grande responded to King's go-ahead score with a 19-6 run over the next 4-1/2 minutes to open up a 23-11 lead and, although Tech closed to within two with 1:26 left in the first half, the RedStorm never trailed again.
     Rio scored the final six points of the first half to take an eight-point halftime lead and still led by just six, 56-50, after a jumper by the Bears' Andrew Work with 10:09 left in the game.
     But the RedStorm put the game on ice over the next 8-1/2 minutes with 22-7 run which produced their largest lead of the game, 78-57, after a layup by freshman Kaden Warner (Cincinnati, OH).
     Rio showed a balanced offensive attack with six players finishing in double figures.
     Junior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) led the way with 20 points and a pair of blocked shots, while freshman Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) had a career-best 14 points.
     Warner, senior Shiloah Blevins (South Webster, OH), graduate senior Mike Cody (Cookeville, TN) and sophomore Khamani Smith (Fort Wayne, IN) all finished with 11 points in the winning effort. Smith's total represented a new season-high.
     Cody added a game-high seven rebounds off the bench and freshman Trent Hundley (Mount Orab, OH) had three assists.
     The RedStorm shot a blistering 61.5 percent (32-for-52) overall, including a 6-for-10 effort from three-point range, and went 10-for-13 at the free throw line (76.9%).
Rio also enjoyed a 31-26 rebounding advantage.
     WVU-Tech shot 40.7 percent overall (24-for-59), but went just 4-for-25 from beyond the three-point arc (16.0%). Three of the four three-point successes came in the Bears' final four attempts from distance.
     Work finished with a game-high 24 points, seven rebounds and two steals in the loss, while Bryce Radford netted 10 points.
     Rio Grande will return to action next Saturday when it travels to Pittsburgh for the second time in 11 days to face Carlow University.