Rio Grande sweeps Golden Bears

Nov. 21—Something about Beckley agrees with Trey Robertson.

The Rio Grande sophomore was perfect from the floor and finished with 23 points, and the RedStorm held off a WVU Tech resurgence in the second half for a 79-75 win Tuesday night at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

It was Tech's first loss after a 4-0 start.

Robertson hit all 10 of his shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. He was five points off his career-high of 28 set two weeks ago in a win over Miami-Middletown.

Robertson averaged 6.6 points per game and did not start at all last season, but RedStorm coach Ryan Arrowood said that is deceiving.

"He's a special player," Arrowood said. "He's a guy that had (15) in this gym last year (a 68-60 RedStorm victory). Kaden (Warner) hurt his shoulder in (that) game and Trey kind took the game over in the second half. He was probably our most efficient player down the stretch last year, had 20 in the national tournament (a 79-75 win over Marian).

"I'm just always surprised that people are shocked Trey Robertson's having the type of year he's having, because he finished (last) season big-time. Coach's kid. Excellent competitor. His teammates voted him captain. He's just a special player. We're veery fortunate he's on our side."

Robertson, who raised his average to 19.3 points per game, was 8-of-8 in the first half, including both of his 3-pointers. His performance was part of what helped the RedStorm (6-1) take a 46-34 lead at the break.

The Golden Bears held him to two attempts — he made them both — in the second half.

"He's a good player," Tech coach George Wilmore said. "He gets to his spots. He has kind of an old-man game, like a Steve Nash-type game. He was 10-for-10 tonight, so we tried to put Braden (Chapman) on him. Braden did a really good job on him in the second half. ... I think we did a good adjustment there."

The entire second half was a big adjustment from the first.

The RedStorm dominated most of the first 20 minutes, pulling away with an 11-2 run that made it a 26-14 game with 10:17 to play before halftime. Robertson had nine points on the run.

That started after Thomas Hailey's three-point play made it a three-point game, but Tech went the next five minutes without a field goal.

Tech was not able to get the deficit to single digits the rest of the half. The RedStorm led by as much 15 at 35-20.

Robertson wasn't the only Rio player on his game offensively. The RedStorm sank 21 of 32 (65.6 percent) of their shots in the first half and turned the ball over just once.

Things changed after halftime.

While keeping an eye on Robertson, Tech improved with the ball and started chipping away. Down 52-40, the Golden Bears ran off 10 straight points to make it a two-point game.

Brant Smithers had two long-range 3-pointers on the run. The second came after Braden Chapman stole the ball from Robertson and found Smithers, who nailed the shot from the tip of the first W on the Woodrow Wilson logo.

The RedStorm quelled that run with a 3-pointer by Erwin Gutic, a solid shooter at 6-foot-8.

Rio never got its lead back to double digits but the Golden Bears never got closer than two, try as they might. Another deep 3 from Smithers and a free throw by Andrew Work made it 69-67 with 2:11 to play.

Consecutive shots by Trent Hundley, including a baseline 3 in front of his bench, made it a tougher task for the Golden Bears at 74-67 with 1:25 left.

Tough, but not impossible. Work hit a layup right after Hundley's 3, and Work and Smithers both hit 3-pointers after sending the Red-Storm to the line. Smithers' made it 78-75 with 10.9 seconds to go.

The final offense of the game came with 9.1 seconds to play when Robertson went 1 of 2 at the line — his only miss of the night.

Rio's shooting took a nose dive after halftime — 11-of-28 (39.3 percent). Tech, meanwhile, was 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) from 3 and made 14 of 17 (82.4 percent) free throws.

"They came out and they punched us in the mouth (in the first half)," Wilmore said. "They had a great game plan. That's a really good team. We executed a little more down the stretch in the second half. I told them in the locker room (Rio) just made a few more small plays than we did. It wasn't plays they were drawing up. It was just all the small details — screening angles, when to go box out, things like that. We had opportunities, we just couldn't get a stop, or coming out of a timeout we didn't execute. If you want to beat really good teams, you have to do those small things."

"We got cocky (in the second half)," Arrowood said. "We got cocky and I thought their defensive intensity picked up, which we knew it would. I don't think our team handled that well. Took some really bad shots to start the second half. Let a very good transition offense get out in transition and get some confidence. Smithers hit a couple of transition 3s. Then it turned into a tough basketball game."

Kaden Warner had 12 points for the RedStorm and Hundley added 11. Taylor Mack had 13 rebounds.

Work led Tech with 23 points and grabbed six rebounds. Smithers was 7-of-13 from 3 and finished with 21 points. Chapman had 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Ashton Parker had 10 rebounds and nine points.

The Golden Bears will play in the NAIA Showcase this weekend in Kingsport, Tenn. They will play Freed-Hardeman Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and University of the Cumberlands Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

l l l

The evening started with the WVU Tech women dropping a 120-71 decision to No. 7 Rio Grande.

The RedStorm (7-0) broke the game open with a 14-0 run in the first quarter, which ended with Rio leading 42-17.

Kaylee Darnell — wearing No. 2, just as Robertson — was 13-of-16 from the floor and finished with a game-high 31 points. She also had five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Reagan Willingham had 15, Harlei Antritt 14 and Jocelyn Abraham 12.

The RedStorm played 13 players and 11 scored.

Alexis Sexton led Tech (2-4) with 18 points. Marquesia Heidt added 15 and Emily Sharkey 13.

The Tech women will also be in Tennessee this weekend, at the women's NAIA Showcase in Johnson City. They will play Rust College on Friday and Pikeville on Saturday. Both games will tip at 230 p.m.

Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5