11th-ranked Wildcats hold off RedStorm

Rio Grande Sports Information
     MARION, Ind. - University of Rio Grande men's basketball head coach Ryan Arrowood isn't in to posting moral victories, but he had to be pleased with how his team made it interesting on one of the nation's perennial powers.
     The RedStorm shaved a 15-point second half deficit down to two inside the final minute before eventually bowing to 11th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University, 86-81, Wednesday night, in non-conference play at Mackey Arena.
     The Wildcats improved to 4-1 with the win.
     Rio Grande, which was among the team receiving votes in the latest NAIA coaches' Top 25 poll, suffered its first loss in six outings.
     The RedStorm trailed just 35-32 at halftime and actually found themselves tied at 41-all after a three-pointer by sophomore Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) with 15:04 left in the game.
     But IWU responded with a 13-4 run over the next three-plus minutes to open up a nine-point cushion and eventually extended its advantage to 15 points, 77-62, after a layup by Caedmon Bontrager with 4:04 remaining in the contest.
     Rio Grande refused to go away quietly, though, and used a 13-2 run of its own - capped by a three-pointer by sophomore Kaden Warner (Cincinnati, OH) - to pull within 83-81 with 20 seconds left to play.
     The Wildcats went 3-for-4 at the foul line over the final 17 seconds - with a missed three-point attempt by Rio senior Erwin Gutic (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) sandwiched in between - to nail down the victory.
     Indiana Wesleyan, which shot just over 68 percent overall (35-for-54) had four players finish in double figures.
     Javan Buchanan led the way with 19 points and a team-high six rebounds, while Bontrager added 17 points off the bench, Griffin Kliewer netted 15 and Nathan Childress chipped in with 14.
     DJ Moore handed out five assists in the win for the Wildcats.
     Rio Grande also shot the ball well, going 32-for-60 overall (53.3%) and 12-for-27 from distance (44.4%).
     The RedStorm only reached the foul line six times (hitting five), though, while IWU was 13-for-18 at the charity stripe.
     Warner led Rio with a game-high 25 points, going 10-for-17 overall and 5-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc. All but three of his points came after halftime.
     Senior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) and Robertson had 18 points each in a losing cause with Tadic tying for game-high honors with six rebounds and Robertson handing out a game-high seven of the RedStorm's season-high 21 assists.
     Rio Grande will return to action next Tuesday when it travels to Beckley, W.Va. to face West Virginia University-Tech in the River States Conference opener for both teams.
     Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.