Alice Lloyd takes down RedStorm men

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Although Groundhog Day remains a little less than six weeks away, you couldn't blame University of Rio Grande men's basketball coach Ryan Arrowood for feeling as if he were filling the role of Bill Murray's "Phil Connors" character in the motion picture sharing the name of the early February holiday.
     No, the RedStorm's fourth-year bench boss wasn't dealing with an alarm clock blaring Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe".
     Nor was he dealing with an annoying insurance hawker nicknamed "Needlenose Ned", who seemed to lurk around every corner.
     Arrowood did, however, watch his team endure a second straight second half swoon which resulted in a 77-62 loss to Alice Lloyd College, Tuesday night, in River States Conference men's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, which lost for the second consecutive time and the fourth time in its last six games, slipped to 7-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
     Alice Lloyd improved to 6-4 overall and earned its first victory in four conference games.
     As was the case last Saturday, when Rio Grande surrendered a 13-point second half advantage against No. 19 Cumberlands (Ky.) after being outscored 24-2 over a span of nearly 10 minutes, it was a combination of missed shots and turnovers after halftime which submarined the RedStorm on Tuesday night.
     Rio enjoyed its largest lead of the night, 37-29, following a dazzling three-quarter-court alley oop pass from sophomore Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) and subsequent two-handed slam dunk by sophomore Greg Stewart (Cincinnati, OH) with 2:09 left before the intermission, but the visitors chopped their shortfall in half by the break and continued the surge over the final 20 minutes.
     ALC opened the second half on a 9-2 run and took a 43-39 lead following a bucket by Ben Soumahoro with 15:39 left to play, but the RedStorm rebounded a regained a 47-45 advantage after a jumper by senior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) capped a 6-0 scoring spurt with 12:50 remaining.
     Rio managed just two points over the next six minutes, though, allowing the Eagles to open up a nine-point cushion with less than eight minutes still to play.
     The RedStorm closed the gap to 60-54 after a running jumper by Robertson with 5:40 remaining, but ALC put things away with three-pointers on each of its next three possessions - two of which belonged to Jared Strickland - to take a 15-point lead.
     Rio Grande got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
     The RedStorm hit just eight of their 28 shot attempts in the second half (28.6%), including 0-for-11 from beyond the three-point arc, while also committing 10 of their season-high 18 turnovers over the final 20 minutes.
     For the game, Rio was 24-for-62 from the floor overall (38.7%) and 4-for-27 from three-point range (14.8%).
     Alice Lloyd, which scored 15 of its 23 points off of turnovers in the second half, shot 58 percent (18-for-31) and had just three miscues of its own after the break.
     Strickland and Soumahoro finished with 22 points and six rebounds each in the winning effort. Soumahoro also had five steals and three assists.
     Robertson led Rio Grande with 21 points and a pair of assists, while sophomore Trent Hundley (Mt. Orab, OH) had 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.
     Stewart also had six rebounds for the RedStorm.
     Rio Grande is slated to return to action on Saturday when it travels to the University of Pikeville for a non-conference matchup.
     Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Appalachian Wireless Arena.