No. 14 Knights rally, end RedStorm winning streak

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Josh Bryan scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead 14th-ranked Marian University past the University of Rio Grande, 67-63, Friday night, in non-conference men's baketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The Knights, who were making just their second all-time trip to Rio Grande, improved to 13-2 with the victory despite being limited to a season-low point total.
     The RedStorm, who had a 10-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 11-4 with the loss.
     Bryan connected on six of his team's eight three-pointers, five of which came after halftime. He also tied a season- and career-high with six rebounds.
     Rio Grande led for all but 70 seconds of the opening half and still maintained a 42-41 advantage after a pair of free throws by junior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) with 10:07 left to play.
     Marian regained the advantage for good, though, less than a minute later when Taeshon Cherry drained a three-pointer of his own to make it 44-42.
     Cherry's trifecta kickstarted a 7-0 run by the Knights which produced a six-point lead, although Rio twice cut the deficit to one - 48-47 after graduate senior Mike Cody (Cookeville, TN) hit one of two free throws with 6:12 remaining and 52-51 following a tip-in by Tadic with 4:21 left.
     Bryan killed the comeback, though, by draining consecutive three-pointers and giving Marian its largest lead of the night, 58-51, with 2:50 remaining.
     Rio Grande refused to go quietly and sliced the deficit to 63-62 following a steal and a layup by freshman Kaden Warner (Cincinnati, OH) with 25.7 seconds left, but Cherry canned a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining to push the Knights' lead back to three.
     The RedStorm had a chance to tie on their ensuing possession, but freshman Trent Hundley's (Mount Orab, OH) three-point try with 15 seconds left was off the mark and Cherry hit one of two tries from the charity stripe with 12.4 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 66-62 and make it a two-possession game again.
     Warner also went 1-for-2 at the foul line with 7.6 seconds to play to make it a one-possession game again, but Brody Whitaker made one of his two free throw attempts with 5.4 seconds left to seal the victory.
     In addition to Bryan's big outing, Cherry finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
     Whitaker added 12 points in the winning effort, while Luke Gohmann had 13 rebounds and three assists of his own.
     Marian shot just 37.9 percent overall (22-for-58), 26.7 percent from three-point range (8-for-30) and 62.5 percent from the foul line (15-for-24).
     The Knights did, however, enjoy a 46-36 edge in rebounding.
     Tadic and Warner netted 16 points each to pace Rio Grande in a losing cause, while Cody pulled down six rebounds.
     The RedStorm struggled offensively as well, going 23-for-63 from the floor overall (36.5%), 5-for-17 from beyond the three-point arc (29.4%) and 12-for-20 at the foul line (60.0%).
     Rio Grande returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Indiana University Kokomo in a battle of River States Conference unbeatens.
     Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.