College basketball: Rio Grande holds off Marian in NAIA opener

Mar. 8—OSKALOOSA — Rio Grande head coach Ryan Arrowood thought he had the perfect saying for Tuesday's NAIA National Men's Basketball Tournament first-round contest.

"Survive and advance in March is alive and well," Arrowood said.

Then a phone went off with a ringtone that was even more fitting. Sybyr's 'Let Me Introduce Myself' also provided a perfect slogan for the Red Storm from Ohio.

"That's a good theme," Arrowood said. "Allow us to introduce ourselves."

Rio Grande introduced themselves at Penn Gymnasium to a team that knew the Red Storm well. Marian looked to score a second win this season over Rio Grande, having won 67-63 over the Red Storm back on Dec. 30.

It was a different story on Tuesday, however. Rio Grande shot over 50 percent from the field and hit 10 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the first half, building a 17-point halftime lead before holding off the Knights in the second half advancing to the second round of the national tournament with a 79-73 win.

"Players win in March. Players that can make the plays when you put the ball in their hands allow you to keep winning and keep playing at this time of the season," Arrowood said. "Our players have no fear. That was the best first half we've played all season.

"Give Marian credit. They punched us in the mouth at the start of the second half. We showed great resolve down the stretch. We made some big shots and made some key stops. I'm so proud of our guys. We got outrebounded, we had to battle foul trouble and we sent them to the free throw line more. That's not what we wanted to do, but we were able to still come out on top."

Shiloah Blevins tipped off a 21-point night for by sinking a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the game, giving Rio Grande (25-6) a lead they would never give back. The Red Storm would hit their first four shots from the field, jumping out to an 11-5 lead in less than three minutes.

"They shot the ball extremely well right at the start," Marian head coach Scott Heady said. "One of our main objectives was to keep them off the 3-point line. They took 14 in the first half. Regardless of how many they hit, that was just too many attempts to even allow.

"They hit some tough shots. Give them credit. I thought we did some things we needed to do. We just missed some open looks and they made some tough shots."

Marian got as close as 11-9 early in the first half before the red-hot Red Storm scored 11 of the next 15 points, building an 11-point first half lead. Khamani Smith's 3-pointer with 3:19 left in the half gave Rio Grande a 48-29 lead, the largest of the game, before Tray Robertson sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to close out a 52-point first half for the Red Storm.

"I thought the last three minutes of the first half were really key," Heady said. "We had a timeout and talked with the guys about winning that stretch and getting the lead down below 10 points. Instead, (Rio Grande) pushed it back out to 17. That was a big period of the game."

Marian (21-10) was finally able to get the deficit down to single digits on a 3-pointer by Taeshon Cheery with 13:52 left, cutting the Rio Grande lead to 58-49. Cherry led all scorers with 27 points in the contest, including a jumper that kicked off a 16-4 run for the Knights cutting the Red Storm lead down to 62-60.

"We talked at halftime about coming out and win every four or five-minute period," Heady said. "As a result, I thought we controlled the first 15-16 minutes of the second half on both ends."

With the game suddenly hanging in the balance and a trip to the second round of the national tournament suddenly on the line, Rio Grande got key shots to hold off the Knights. Robertson would score 20 points off the bench for the Red Storm, including a clutch 3-pointer with 8:18 left that put Rio Grande up 65-60 along with three consecutive points with three minutes left and a jumper to beat the shot clock with 25 seconds left that put the Red Storm up 77-70.

"I don't think as my role as doing anything crazy. I just try to get the ball moving and get people where they need to be," Robertson said. "It's kind of a case where teams have to pick their poison. If they pick me up, I'm confident I can get the ball to someone with a great look at the basket."

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.