Milestones aplenty as RedStorm men rout IUC

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Saturday afternoon's first-ever meeting with Indiana University Columbus might as well have been dubbed "Milestone Day" for the University of Rio Grande men's basketball team.
     Three members of the RedStorm roster hit career milestone marks and three finished with double-double outings in a 99-62 rout of the Crimson Pride in River States Conference action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 25 in the most recent NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, improved to 15-5 overall and 6-2 in conference play with the win.
     IU Columbus, in its second year as a member of the RSC and first season of fielding a basketball program, dropped to 1-19 overall and 0-8 against league foes.
     Junior Jaylin Fox (South Haven, MI), who came to Rio this season after previously attending Kalamazoo City Community College, led a quartet of double-digit scorers in the victory with a Rio career-high of 23 points. He also had 10 rebounds, surpassing the 500 mark for his collegiate career.
     Senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL), another Rio Grande newcomer this year after previous stops at NCAA Division I Southern Illinois University, Polk Community College and NCAA Division II Elizabeth City (NC) State, netted 16 points to move past 1,000 points for his collegiate career.
     Butler also had a Rio career-high 12 rebounds, also topping the 500 mark for his collegiate career. He handed out six assists as well.
     Junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH), coming off a career-best 41 points in Thursday's win over Indiana University Southeast, had 15 points and also tallied six assists, surpassing the 250 mark for his career. He also recorded three steals.
     And for good measure, junior Keyland Lasisi (Paris, France) tied his Rio career-high with 14 points, while pulling down a game-best 15 rebounds. He also had two blocked shots.
     The RedStorm never trailed and were tied just once - at 8-8. Head coach Ryan Arrowood's club followed up the deadlock with a 9-0 run, though, and never looked back.
     Rio led 48-27 at the intermission and was up by as many as 38 points with just over a minute to play before settling on the 37-point final margin of victory.
     All 12 players in uniform saw action and 10 scored for the RedStorm, which shot 48 percent overall (40-for-82) and enjoyed a 56-18 advantage in points in the paint.
     IU Columbus shot 38 percent overall (23-for-60), but was outrebounded, 50-30, and committed 17 turnovers to fuel a 24-2 Rio advantage in points off of miscues.
     Ben Sylva scored 17 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had three assists to pace the Crimson Pride, while Nathan Pickett and Owen Law added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
LaRenzo Hopkins also had three assists for IUC.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Thursday night when it opens a two-game RSC road swing at Indiana University Kokomo.
     Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.