Cougars oust cold-shooting Rio men

Rio Grande Sports Information
     KOKOMO, Ind. - Consecutive losses to close the regular season torpedoed the University of Rio Grande's chance to win a division title and to play at home in the River States Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
     The inability to put the ball in the basket sunk the RedStorm's hopes of righting its ship to make an extended post-season run.
     Head coach Ryan Arrowood's squad recorded its worst shooting night of the campaign and, subsequently, its lowest scoring total of the season in a 66-46 loss to Indiana University Kokomo, Wednesday night, in the quarterfinal round of the tourney at the Student Activities and Events Center.
     Rio Grande, the East Division No. 3 seed, finished 19-10 with the loss - its fifth setback in the last eight outings.
     IU Kokomo, the No. 2 seed from the West Division, improved to 21-8 with the victory and avenged an 82-76 loss at home to Rio Grande on Jan. 30 in the process.
     The win - coupled with Indiana University Southeast overtime upset win over East Division champ Shawnee State University - means the Cougars earned another home game in the tourney and will host the Grenadiers in Saturday's semifinals.
     Rio Grande's 46 points and 26.2 percent (17-for-65) shooting mark eclipsed its previous lows of 53 points and 32.9 percent which were set in the same game - a 65-53 loss at Indiana University East on Jan. 14, a loss where the RedStorm also set a program record for futility by going 0-for-26 from three-point range.
     Still, the RedStorm were very much in the game at halftime, trailing just 32-26 at the intermission.
     But a brutal opening eight minutes of the second half officially did the visitors in.
     Rio went 1-for-11 from the floor and committed two turnovers in its first 12 positions, while IUK tallied 19 points over the same period and built a 51-29 lead.
     The Cougars largest cushion of the night was 23 points, 57-34, after a pair of Max Newman free throws with 6:53 left to play and the RedStorm failed to get any closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
     Included in Rio's shooting woes was a 4-for-25 showing (16.0%)from three-point range.
     Only junior Jaylin Fox (South Haven, MI) reached double figures for the RedStorm, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also had two steals and a blocked shots.
     Junior Keylane Lasisi (Paris, France) had a team-high 12 rebounds and a blocked shot of his own in the loss, while junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) also had a pair of steals.
     IU Kokomo finished 24-for-54 from the floor (44.4%) and was 14-for-16 at the foul line (87.5%), while also enjoying a 41-39 edge in rebounding.
     Kedric Anderson led the Cougars with 19 points, while Newman and Joseph Annan, Jr. netted 12 points each and Chris Chin tallied 11.
     Noah Harris added 12 rebounds in the win, while Newman grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out three assists.
     Chin also had three assists and a pair of blocked shots, while Dell DeMyers collected four steals.
     Wednesday's game marked the final contest in a Rio uniform for graduate senior Milan Square (Youngstown, OH) and seniors Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) and Eythan House (Montrose, Australia).