RedStorm men end slide with rout of Brescia

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Never mind the fact that the visitors from Brescia University were playing without their leading scorer.
     As bad as the University of Rio Grande needed a win, head coach Ryan Arrowood wasn't about to give back a victory - regardless of the circumstance surrounding how it was secured.
     The RedStorm made a quick start stand up by leading from start to finish in an eventual 97-68 triumph over the Bearcats, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, which had lost three straight games and seven of their previous nine outings entering the contest, improved to 8-10 overall and 3-3 against league foes with the win.
     Brescia, which lost for a fourth straight time, slipped to 2-13 overall and 2-4 in the RSC. The four-game slide has coincided with the undisclosed absence of freshman guard Juante Jenkins (19.6 ppg), who did not accompany the team on its two-game road swing to the Buckeye State.
     Rio Grande opened up a double-digit advantage just over four minutes into the contest and led by as many as 19 points on multiple occasions before settling on a 16-point cushion, 44-28, at halftime.
     The Bearcats got no closer at any stage of the second half and the RedStorm lead blossomed to as many as 31 points on four occasions, the last of which came at 84-53 following a pair of free throws by senior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) with 6:17 left to play.
     Rio Grande did a great deal of its damage from beyond the three-point arc, where it hit a season-high 14 trifectas in 37 attempts (37.8%).
     The RedStorm finished 37-for-78 overall (47.4%), while also enjoying a whopping 47-33 edge in rebounding and committing just five turnovers.
     Senior Delon McCloud (Grand Rapids, MI) led a quartet of double-digit scorers for Rio Grande with 22 points, while Johnson netted 20 points and junior James Wright (Detroit, MI) added 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds off the bench.
     Senior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) added 11 points and nine assists to the winning effort.
     Brescia finished 25-for-59 overall (42.4%) and 10-for-16 at the foul line (62.5%).
     Alex Evans led the Bearcats with 17 points off the bench, while Israel Momodu had 13 points and a pair of blocked shots.
     Braden Waller added six rebounds and Kabryen Tinson had three assists in the loss.
     Rio Grande will return to action on Tuesday night when it travels to Indiana University East for a 6 p.m. tipoff.