Rio men start fast, storm past Bears

Rio Grande Sports Information
     PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - It was exactly the kind of bounce-back effort that University of Rio Grande head coach Ryan Arrowood was looking for.
     On the heels of seeing a late-game comeback effort fall short in a loss at Mount Vernon Nazarene, Arrowood's RedStorm built a commanding first half lead and went on to post a 93-72 win over rival Shawnee State University, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's basketball action at Waller Gymnasium.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 23 in the most recent NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, pushed its record to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play with the victory.
     Shawnee State dropped to 5-9 overall and 0-2 in the RSC as a result of the loss.
     The Bears led just twice - both times by two points inside the game's opening 2-1/2 minutes - and trailed by as many as 22 points after a bucket by Rio senior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia) gave the RedStorm a 42-20 advantage with 2:47 left in the first half.
     Rio's lead settled at 15 points by the intermission and dropped to 11 after a jumper by Shawnee's Tre Beard with 15:31 remaining made it 51-40, but that's as close as the Bears got the rest of the way.
     The RedStorm countered with an 11-1 run over the next 3-1/2 minutes to push their advantage back to 21 points, 62-41, following a three-pointer by Jaylin Fox (South Haven, MI) with 12:03 left and never looked back.
     The Rio lead never went below 19 points from that point on and reached as many as 23 points on 10 different occasion over the game's final 10-plus minutes.
     The RedStorm shot a strong 51.5 percent in the opening half and got even better over the final 20 minutes (58.6%) to finish the game at 54.8 percent (34-for-62).
     Rio Grande also finished with a 29-22 rebounding edge and had just seven turnovers.
     Senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) had a terrific all-around performance and fueled the winning effort with 23 points, six rebounds and four assists.
     Fox established a new season-high scoring total for the second straight outing, finishing with 20 points off the bench. House narrowly missed equaling his career-high, adding 17 points of his own off the bench.
     Redshirt junior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) finished with 16 points and tied Fox for game- and team-high rebounding honors with seven. Junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) had a game-high five assists.
     Shawnee State shot just under 57 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at an even 50 percent overall (27-for-54), but was just 4-for-16 from distance (25.0%) and 14-for-21 at the foul line (66.7%).
     Beard finished with a game-best 24 points in the loss, while also tallying a team-high two assists and two steals.
     Ezra McKee and AJ Belton had 10 points each for the Bears. McKee also had a team-high six rebounds.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Tuesday night when it entertains West Virginia University-Tech. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
     However, the impending winter storm slate to hit the area on Sunday afternoon already has school officials considering rescheduling to a Wednesday afternoon start should the game be postponed.
     Continue to monitor www.rioredstorm.com for the exact date and time.