Big second half sparks Rio men past Cougars

Head coach Ryan Arrowood’s club went 7-for-9 from distance and 12-for-14 at the charity stripe over the final 20 minutes to fuel an 82-76 victory over Indiana University Kokomo, Thursday night, in River States Conference men’s basketball action at the Student Activities and Events Center.

Rio Grande improved to 16-5 overall and 7-2 against conference foes with the win - its first in Kokomo since a 72-63 triumph on Jan. 26, 2017.

The Cougars slipped to 13-8 overall and 4-5 in league play with a fourth straight loss.

IUK seemingly could do no wrong early on, connecting on 10 of its first 13 field goal attempts in the contest and taking what proved to be its largest lead of the night, 23-18, following a three-pointer by Evan Kretz with 10:44 left in the opening half.

Rio Grande responded with 7-0 run, though, culminating with a conventional three-point play by redshirt junior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) with 6:58 left in the half, to grab a 25-23 advantage.

The remainder of the half included four ties and four lead changes and ended in a 35-all deadlock.

Rio Grande scored the first points of the second half on a three-pointer by senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) just 53 seconds into the period and, although unable to pull away, the RedStorm never trailed the rest of the way.

Rio grabbed its largest lead of the contest, 67-59, following a layup by junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) - the reigning RSC Offensive Player of the Week - with 7:59 remaining in the game.

Kokomo twice closed the gap to two points, but never managed to tie or get the lead back.

The RedStorm shot 53.8 percent in the second half (14-for-26) and 51.8 precent for the game (29-for-56), while finishing 15-for-17 at the foul line (88.2%) - including 6-for-8 over the final 56 seconds.

Butler set a new single-game high in his time at Rio, scoring a game-high 24 points. He hit seven of 11 shots overall, including a pair of trifectas, and was 8-for-8 at the foul line.

Johnson topped three other double-digit scorers for the RedStorm with 19 points, while also yanking down eight rebounds.      Senior Ethan House (Montrose, Australia) had 16 points and four assists, while Robertson tallied 15 points and two steals.

The Cougars shot 50 percent overall (30-for-60), but hit just two of 11 three-point tries after going 5-for-9 (55.6%) from deep in the opening half.

IUK also hit just nine of its 16 free throw attempts (56.3%) and was out rebounded, 28-26.

Kretz led the hosts with 18 points, while Max Newman had 16 points, nine rebounds and a blocked shot.

Dell Demyers added 16 points of his own in a losing cause, while Noah Harris tossed in 10 points and Chris Chin handed out five assists.

Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday when it concludes its weekend road trip at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in the RSC Game of the Week.

Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m.