Medina Today

For an extended period on Wednesday night, the University of Rio Grande had eighth-ranked William Penn University on the ropes in the second round of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship presented by Ballogy.
     What the RedStorm couldn't do, though, was find a way to deliver a knockout blow.
     The host Statesmen shook off their first half offensive doldrums and exploded for 54 second half points to erase a 10-point halftime deficit and post an eventual 73-61 victory at a boisterous Penn Gymnasium.
     William Penn, the top seed in both the four-team bracket and the Cramer Quadrant of the 64-team tourney, improved to 30-3 and advanced to face Montana Tech in the Round of 16, next Monday, at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
     Rio Grande, the No. 2 seed in the four-team pod and the No. 8 seed in the quadrant, closed its season at 25-7 with the loss.
     The RedStorm were playing beyond the First Round of the national tourney for the first time since reaching the Final Four of the then-NAIA Division II National Championship in 2001.
     "I thought we really dominated the first 25 minutes of the game. We just couldn't maintain it when we missed shots," said third-year Rio Grande head coach Ryan Arrowood. "We were right there. They've got the No. 1 offense in the country and we held them to 19 points in the first half. I hate it but, at the same time, I'm really proud of our guys."
     Rio Grande led 29-19 at halftime and did so despite losing its third-leading scorer, freshman Kaden Warner (Cincinnati, OH), to a separated shoulder with just over 5-1/2 minutes remaining in the first half.
     Warner, who suffered a similar injury in a win at West Virginia University-Tech on Feb. 11, was hurt trying to extend his arm to catch a pass with 5:39 left before the break.
     Trainers on-site attempted to pop Warner's shoulder back in place, but were unsuccessful. He was transported to a nearby hospital to have the shoulder reset.
     Meanwhile, William Penn did something in the second half that it failed to do over the first 20 minutes - make shots.
     The Statesmen, who went just 7-for-26 overall (26.9%) and 1-for-5 from three-point range (20.0%) in the first half, were 20-for-35 from the floor after the intermission (57.1%), including 4-for-10 from beyond the three-point arc.
     The hosts also committed just one turnover after halftime.
     William Penn, which was outscored 14-3 over the final 8:30 of the opening stanza, managed to regain the lead at 36-35 on a jumper by Muneer Newton with 12:17 left to play.
Newton's bucket came smack in the middle of a 12-0 run which put the Statesmen in front to stay.
     Rio's deficit reached 10 points after a three-pointer by Penn's Daniel Autrey made it 47-37 with 9:17 remaining and the RedStorm got no closer than six points - on three separate occasions - the rest of the way.
     William Penn's largest lead of the contest came with the 12-point margin of victory.
     Rio Grande connected on just 22 of its 66 shots overall (33.3%), while also going 8-for-27 from distance (29.6%) and 9-for-13 at the foul line (69.2%).
     Junior Miki Tadic (Hilversum, The Netherlands) led a quartet of double-digit scorers for the RedStorm with 18 points, while graduate senior Mike Cody (Cookeville, TN) had 16 points and senior Shiloah Blevins (South Webster, OH) tallied 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
     Sophomore Khamani Smith (Fort Wayne, IN) also had 10 points and two steals in a losing cause, while freshman Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) handed out four assists and had two steals of his own.
     William Penn also had four players in double figures, with Malik Edwards' 23-point effort leading the way.
     Eddie Daley had 12 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and three blocked shots in the winning effort, while Newton had a double-double of his own with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
     Chanze Cruesoe also scored 11 points to go along with a game-best seven assists.
     Wednesday's game marked the final contest in a Rio uniform for Blevins, Cody and fellow senior Vince Collins (Hampton, VA). 

Original source can be found here.