Sports
Tigers Reach 100 To Drop RedStorm
By: Justin Holbrock
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Jermaine Warmack joined an elite club as a member of the No. 14 Rio Grande RedStorm (14-7, 7-3) in tonight’s 100-96 home loss to the No. 18 Georgetown Tigers (16-5, 7-3). Warmack dropped a team-high 21 points, enough to eclipse 1,000 total on his four-year career at Rio Grande.
The defending national champion Tigers avenged their 79-72 loss to the RedStorm earlier this month and are now tied with Rio Grande for second place in the Mid-South Conference.
The RedStorm trailed most of the game but got a spark from junior forward Josh Reagan who hit a crucial three-point shot to tie the game at 31-31 with 1:40 left in the first half.
In the same breath, Reagan received a technical foul for staring down and taunting the Georgetown bench after making the shot. Head coach Ken French could be heard from the RedStorm bench screaming “why?” at his hotheaded forward who may have cost his team the game with the mental lapse.
“We have got to keep our composure and tonight we didn’t do that,” French said. “At times we kill ourselves and that’s what happened tonight.”
This marks Reagan’s fourth technical foul this season through the nine games he has been able to play after being forced to sit out the first half of the season due to transfer regulations.
Georgetown capitalized on Reagan’s mistake and made both free throws and the next basket helping it to take a 40-37 lead going into halftime.
Entering the second half, the Tigers stayed on the attack and led by as many as 20 points with 10:31 remaining in the game.
The RedStorm, however, would not go away easily and closed the gap to 98-95 with six seconds remaining in the game. Warmack drove the ball down the court and was unable to add to his 1,005 career points as he missed the three-point attempt to tie the game.
The miss proved Reagan’s foul in the first half to be detrimental because it led to a four-point swing in favor of the Tigers and four points separated these nationally ranked foes at the final buzzer.
Reagan’s foul was not the only thing Georgetown had going for it as senior guard Monty Wilson connected on a game-high 31 points with 23 coming in the second half. Wilson also posted six rebounds while Dominique Hagans and Deondre McWhorter added 14 points apiece.
The miss to tie the game should not overshadow Warmack’s 1,000-point accomplishment tonight as he also added a team-high seven assists and six rebounds. D.D. Joiner also contributed 18 points but the RedStorm have now dropped two of their last three games after starting the month of January with five straight wins.
Rio Grande looks to get back in the winning column on Saturday when it hosts the University of Cumberlands at 4 p.m.
Editor's Note: A correction was made on Jan. 31, as Josh Reagan, not Phillip Hertz, received the technical foul for taunting after making a 3-pointer.