RedStorm men bounce Bruins in Bevo Classic

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - More often than not - unless your defensive effort just completely screws things up - having four scorers at, or near, the 20-point plateau will win you a lot of basketball games.
     On Friday night, the University of Rio Grande men's basketball team could attest to the fact.
     Trey Robertson and Eric Butler netted 20 points each, while Jaelin Johnson and Milan Square both finished with 18 points of their own to lead the RedStorm in an 89-67 victory over Carolina University in the opening round of the Bevo Francis Classic at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The RedStorm improved to 5-1 with a fifth straight victory.
     Carolina, an NAIA independent which is also a member of the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA), suffered a fifth straight loss and dropped to 1-7.
     The Bruins' only lead of the night came in the infancy of the contest when a three-point goal by Chris High with just 1:17 gone made it 3-0.
     Rio Grande responded with the game's next 12 points to take a lead it would never relinquish, although High did his best to keep the Bruins within string distance for as long as he could by connecting on 13 of his 19 field goal attempts - including 10 of his 14 three-point tries - and finishing with 36 points.
     In fact, the Bruins trailed by just nine points, 74-65, after a layup by Ashley Kanoa with 6:03 left to play, but they managed just two points the rest of the night as the RedStorm pulled away behind its high-scoring foursome.
     Butler, a senior from Orlando, Fla., scored 11 of his 20 points in the second half, while Johnson - a redshirt junior from Fairmont, W.Va. - recorded 14 of his 18 points after the intermission.
     Robertson, a junior from Waverly, Ohio, did the bulk of his damage before the break, scoring 16 of his points in the first half as the hosts opened up a 48-36 halftime lead.
     Square, a graduate senior from Youngstown, Ohio, had 10 of his points in the first half, including six on a pair of three-pointers during the 12-0 response to Carolina's early go-ahead bucket.
     Rio Grande shot just over 55 percent from the floor overall (37-for-67), committed just nine turnovers and enjoyed a commanding 35-24 advantage in rebounding.
     Junior Keylane Lasisi (Paris, France) pulled down 13 carems in the winning effort.
     Carolina, which entered the contest shooting just over 39 percent overall and a little more than 22 percent from distance, finished 24-for-48 overall (50.0%) and 13-for-21 from three-point range (61.9%).
     In addition to High's offensive onslaught, the Bruins got 11 points off the bench from Ashley and 10 points from Trey Crawford in the loss.
     High, Crawford and Dakota Sampson had rebounds each for the visitors while Sampson also had a pair of steals and four blocked shots.
     Rio Grande will close out the Classic on Saturday at 3 p.m. when it faces Lindsey Wilson College, which suffered its first loss in nine outings on Friday with a 70-55 setback at the hands on West Virginia University-Tech.
     Carolina will face the Golden Bears in Saturday's opening game at 11 a.m.