Eagles rally late, deal Rio men gut-wrenching loss

Rio Grande Sports Information
     PIPPA PASSES, Ky. - A somewhat simple path to the River States Conference East Division title and the opportunity to host perhaps two post-season games became significantly more complicated for the University of Rio Grande.
     Alice Lloyd College's Jackson Tackett canned a go-ahead jumper with 1:17 left to play as the Eagles rallied from an eight-point second half deficit for an eventual 65-62 win over the RedStorm, Tuesday night, in RSC men's basketball action at the Perry Campus Center.
     Rio Grande, which began the day in sole possession of first place in the RSC East and in control of its own post-season destiny, dropped to 19-8 overall and 10-5 in league play with the loss.
     Alice Lloyd, which lost to the RedStorm by 31 points in the team's first meeting on Jan. 12 in Rio Grande, improved to 19-7 overall and 10-5 in the RSC with the win.
     The victory - coupled with a last-second win by Shawnee State at Midway on Tuesday - means that the RedStorm, Shawnee State and Alice Lloyd are all deadlocked for the division lead heading into Saturday's regular season finale.
     Rio Grande can still win the division crown with a win at home on Saturday against Indiana University East - which is one game behind of the trio of tied teams - but also needs a Shawnee State loss at Alice Lloyd.
     The RedStorm would earn the No. 1 seed from the East Division in next week's RSC Championship by virtue of holding the tiebreaker against Alice Lloyd.
     Wins by Shawnee State and Rio Grande would produce a tie between the Bears and the RedStorm and SSU would hold the tiebreaker based on its sweep of Alice Lloyd.
     Should Rio lose in Saturday's regular season finale, the RedStorm would tumble all the way to fourth place in the division - based on being swept by IU East - and would be forced to travel to West Division champion and the tourney's overall No. 1 seed St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.
     Rio Grande enjoyed its largest lead of the night when a three-pointer by redshirt junior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) gave the RedStorm a 24-15 cushion with 8:47 left in the first half.
     The Eagles closed the gap to 31-30 at halftime, but Rio rebounded to gain an eight-point advantage, 53-45, following a pair of free throws by junior Jaylin Fox (South Haven, MI) with 8:44 remaining in the contest.
     Alice Lloyd still trailed by as many as seven points with just over seven minutes to play, but methodically chipped away at the deficit and eventually forged a 55-all after Jacob Curry connected on one of two free throw attempts with 3:46 left.
     The Eagles completed the comeback just 37 seconds later on a go-ahead layup by Ben Soumahoro.
     Rio Grande re-tied the game at 57-57 on a pair of free throws by senior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia) with 2:38 left and again at 59-all thanks to free throws by junior Trey Robertson (Waverly, OH) with 1:31 remaining, but Tackett's go-ahead bucket came 14 seconds later and the hosts never trailed again.
     The RedStorm committed a turnover on their ensuing possession and Soumahoro hit one of two free throw tries with 30 seconds left to give ALC a 62-59 lead.
     Another Rio turnover led to a pair of free throws by Curry and gave the Eagles their largest lead of the contest, 64-59, with nine seconds left.
     Johnson drilled a three-pointer with four seconds remaining to get the RedStorm within two, 64-62, but Curry hit the first of two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to extend the lead to three and Johnson's desperation heave from three-quarter court after rebounding the second missed free throw was off the mark.
     Curry scored 19 points to lead ALC's winning effort, while Tackett had 12 points and eight rebounds and Soumahoro finished with 11 points, five assists and three steals.
     Koji Anderson also had three steals for the Eagles, who shot 44.6 percent overall (25-for-56) and won despite hitting just eight of their 16 free throw attempts (50.0%) and being outrebounded, 39-34.
     Rio Grande shot just over 39 percent overall (22-for-56), including 10-for-30 from distance (33.3%), and was only 8-for-14 at the foul line (57.1%).
     Johnson led the RedStorm with 17 points, while senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) had 13 points and four assists and House netted 10 points.
     Junior Keylane Lasisi (Paris, France) had 14 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot in a losing cause.
     Rio's matchup with IU East on Saturday is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tipoff at the Newt Oliver Arena.