Sports
RedStorm Defeat Ohio Christian On The Road
By: Nathan Wiseman
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Rio Grande traveled to Ohio Christian for its second away game of the season on Tuesday night and left Maxwell Leadership Center with a 70-63 victory.
Senior guard Ricky Tisdale scored a career-high 16 points, including 13 in a second-half comeback effort to lift the RedStorm to a victory after trailing by seven at halftime.
Tisdale was one of five players to finish in double figures for the RedStorm. D.D. Joiner netted 14 points off the bench, Evan Legg and Bilal Young had 12 points each, and Jermaine Warmack finished with 10 points on the night.
The RedStorm improved their winning streak to two and improved their record to 5-2 on the season with the victory in Circleville.
Ohio Christian remains winless in its six all-time meetings with Rio and dropped to 5-6 overall on the season with the loss.
The RedStorm settled for outside jump shots for most of the first half and only shot 29 percent from the field. Rio Grande’s inconsistency on the offensive side of the ball carried over to its defensive play, which contributed to a pair of 10-point leads for the Trailblazers and an eventual 32-25 advantage for OCU at intermission.
Rio Grande stormed out of the locker room and opened the second half on a 12-3 run to take a 37-35 lead after a bucket by Joiner with 13:41 remaining in the game. OCU quickly responded with a jumper by Joe Collier with 9:24 remaining in the contest, giving the Trailblazers a 47-46 lead.
The lead went back and forth over the next four minutes of play before Rio turned a one-point deficit into a nine-point lead, 63-54, after a 12-2 scoring run.
The Trailblazers fought back and got as close as 65-63 following a steal and lay-in by Wesley Russell with 22.7 seconds left, but the comeback came up slightly short. The RedStorm finished the game on a 5-0 run and ultimately ran away with the victory.
Russell scored a team-high 12 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists for Ohio Christian in the loss. Nic Baker added 10 points and Evan Mills had 13 rebounds.
Rio Grande will travel to Upland, Ind., on Dec. 6 to face Berea College in the first round of the Ivanhoe Classic at Taylor University.