RedStorm stumbles early, falls at Pikeville

Rio Grande Sports Information
     PIKEVILLE, Ky. - In each of their previous two outings, the University of Rio Grande saw its hopes of emerging victorious undermined by disastrous stretches in the second half.
     In Saturday afternoon's matchup with the University of Pikeville, it was a sloth-like start that sunk the RedStorm.
     UPike bolted to a 21-4 lead out of the gate, but was forced to withstand a furious second half from head coach Ryan Arrowood's squad for an eventual 76-67 win in non-conference men's basketball action at Appalachian Wireless Arena.
     The host Bears improved to 10-3 with a fourth straight victory.
     Rio Grande dropped to 7-5 with a third consecutive loss.
     The RedStorm trailed 4-3 after a layup by senior Erwin Gutic (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) just over a minute into the contest, but went 0-for-11 from the floor over the next nine minutes - with a pair of turnovers also sprinkled in the mix - as UPike built a 17-point lead.
     The Bears settled for a 15-point cushion at the intermission, 38-23, and continued to pull away over the first eight minutes of the second stanza, extendiing their advantage to as many as 28 points, 60-32, following a pair of Issac Stanback free throws with 12:06 left to play.
     Rio Grande roared to life at that point, though, and set sail on a 22-3 run which culminated in a steal and layup by sophomore Trent Hundley (Mt. Orab, OH) which sliced the deficit to 63-54 with 4:40 remaining.
     However, the Bears countered with an answer of their own - three-pointers by Bradley Bunch on consecutive possessions - to push their lead back to 15 points, 69-54, with 3:41 left.
     By the time that the RedStorm managed to get the deficit back into single digits thanks to a three-pointer by junior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia), only seven seconds remained and a pair of free throws by UPike's Kyonte Thomas two seconds later set the final score.
     Thomas led the Bears with 24 points and five assists, while Bunch netted 22 points and Stanback finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
     Keian Worrix also had five assists for UPike, which shot 50 percent overall (25-for-50) and committed just five turnovers.
     Rio Grande, which shot just 26.9 percent in the first half (7-for-26), finished the game at 41.8 percent (23-for-55).
     Hundley led the RedStorm with 19 points, three assists and a blocked shot, while sophomore Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) had 17 points and House tossed in 11.
     Senior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands), who was held scoreless until connecting on a pair of free throws with 9:49 remaining in the game, narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. He also had three assists.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Wednesday, when it hosts last season's national runner-up - Indiana Tech - in a 5 p.m. tipoff at the Newt Oliver Arena.