Rio men fall to Grenadiers in RSC semifinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Indiana University Southeast was the only River States Conference team to defeat the University of Rio Grande over the course of regular season play.
     On Saturday afternoon, in the semifinal round of the RSC Men's Basketball Championship, the visiting Grenadiers showed that, in fact, lightning can strike the same location twice.
     Jaivaughn Jackson came off the bench to score a career-high 30 points and Glenn Hill, Jr. netted 13 of his 15 points after halftime to fuel a 71-68 victory over the RedStorm at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     IU Southeast, the tourney's No. 2 seed out the West Division, won for the 14th straight time in pushing its season record to 22-8.
     The victory also sends the Grenadiers into Tuesday night's championship game against West Division No. 1 seed Indiana University Kokomo, which ousted Point Park University, 76-66, in Saturday's second semifinal contest.
     Rio Grande, whose 75-65 loss to IUS on Jan. 14 served as game two in Southeast's current win streak, had a 10-game winning streak of its own snapped and fell to 24-6.
     The RedStorm trailed by one, 35-34, at the close of a back-and-forth first half, but opened the second stanza with a 10-4 run to take their biggest lead of the day, 44-39, following a three-pointer by freshman Trent Hundley (Mount Orab, OH) with 16:03 left to play.
     Hill countered with a three-pointer of his own on Southeast's ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 44-42 and Anthony Wales, Jr. canned another trifecta with 15:00 remaining to put IUS in front.
     It was a lead that the Grenadiers refused to relinquish.
     Rio Grande was still within one, 52-51, after a basket by senior Shiloah Blevins (South Webster, OH) with 10:16 left to play, but Southeast went on a 15-3 run over the next 4-1/2 minutes to take its largest lead of the day, 67-54, after a layup by Jackson with 5:48 remaining.
     Hill had the first eight points of the run, while Johnson accounted for the final seven.
     Rio Grande didn't fold, though, and countered with an 11-2 run of its own to draw within 69-65 after sophomore Khamani Smith (Fort Wayne, IN) connected on both ends of a one-and-bonus free throw situation with 1:43 showing on the clock.
     The RedStorm got even closer in the closing seconds when a conventional three-point play by junior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) made it 71-68 with 19.2 seconds left, but that's where the comeback attempt fizzled out.
     However, not without one last flicker of hope for the home team.
     Southeast's Jocobi Hendricks failed to connect on a wide open layup attempt with 10 seconds left which would've all but iced the victory and Smith secured the rebound for Rio, prompting head coach Ryan Arrowood to call for a timeout and set up the opportunity for a game-tying three-point try.
     The RedStorm never got their chance, though, after Tadic's pass toward the right wing in the direction of freshman Kaden Warner (Cincinnati, OH) was picked off by Hill with two seconds left to preserve the win.
     In addition to his game-high point total, Jackson also had a team-high three assists for IUS, which shot 52.5 percent overall (31-for-59) and enjoyed a 38-28 edge in rebounding.
     J.J. Reed led the Grenadiers with nine rebounds.
     Rio Grande hit 11 three-pointers and shot just over 42 percent from long range (11-for-26), but connected on just 39 percent of its shots overall (24-for-61).
     Warner had a team-high 15 points to go along with a game-best seven assists and three steals for the RedStorm, while Tadic finished with 14 points and Blevins had 10 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
     Smith and graduate senior Mike Cody (Cookeville, TN) also had 10 points each in a losing cause.
     Rio Grande will now wait to learn the identity of its first round opponent and the site of its first round game in the upcoming NAIA National Championship.
     The NAIA will release its field of 64 teams on Thursday night.
     The RedStorm, who qualified as the RSC regular season champion, will be joined in the field by the IU Southeast-IU Kokomo winner as the RSC tournament champion.