Rio men fall short in battle of division leaders

Rio Grande Sports Information
     ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. - The University of Rio Grande had one comeback effort in its tank, but at least one other was required to take down the top team in the West Division of the River States Conference.
     Head coach Ryan Arrowood's squad erased a 10-point first half deficit and scratched out a narrow second half lead, but host St. Mary-of-the-Woods College mounted a rally of its to regain the lead and eventually post a 71-63 win over the RedStorm, Saturday afternoon, at the Jeanne Knoerle Sports and Recreation Center.
     The Pomeroys improved to 19-3 overall and 9-1 in the league with the victory.
     Rio Grande slipped to 16-6 overall and 7-3 against conference foes with the loss.
     The RedStorm transformed a 29-19 shortfall with just over 3-1/2 minutes to play in the first half into a 46-44 lead following a bucket by junior Keylane Lasisi (Paris, France) with 9:51 left to play.
     The advantage swung back-and-forth over the next two minutes, but it was a dunk by SMWC's Shon Tupuola with 7:02 left which snapped a 53-all deadlock and put the hosts in front to stay.
     The dunk started an 11-2 run, culminated by a pair of free throws by Taeron Hogg with 3:45 remaining, to give the Pomeroys a 64-55 cushion.
     Rio Grande got no closer than six points the rest of the way and SMWC twice led by as many as 11 points inside the final 40 seconds of the contest.
     Tupuola led the Pomeroys' winning effort with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Greg Jenkins netted 17 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists.
     Hogg finished with 10 for SMWC, which shot just 39.7 percent overall (23-for-58) and 15.4 percent from three-point range (2-for-13).
     Rio Grande shot just 39 percent itself (22-for-56) and was only 10-for-16 at the foul line (62.5%). The RedStorm were also outrebounded, 46-28.
     Senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) led Rio with 16 points and six rebounds, while junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) had 13 points and four assists.
     Redshirt junior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) and senior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia) netted 10 points each in the losing effort, with Johnson equaling Butler for team-high honors with six rebounds of his own.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Tuesday night when it opens a three-game homestand against Midway University at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.