Late Rally Not Enough for Men's Basketball vs. Red Storm

(Rochester Hills, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team saw themselves in a battle Saturday afternoon, as they took on the Rio Grande Red Storm in game two of the Faith Works Classic, hosted by Rochester Christian University.

Rio Grande would start the game off strong, with an early 5-2 lead.  Jacob Mueller would get an offensive rebound and tip-in on Cleary's next possession to cut the deficit to 5-4.  Each team would trade punches, but Cleary would be unable to get the defensive stop to take the lead.  With the score 11-10, Rio Grande would extend their lead to five points, but a Tim Kewley and-one would cut that lead back to two, and the score would be 15-13.  Brian Everhart would connect on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 17-17 halfway through the opening stanza.  The Red Storm would then score four unaswered.  A Bennie Crenshaw Jr. three pointer made it a one-point game once again, with 5:00 to play.  Late in the first half, and with Cleary trailing by three points, the Red Storm would extend their lead to six.  Brian Everhart then hit a three on Cleary's final possession to send the two teams into the break with the score 28-25.

The Cougars would come out strong, and took the lead thanks to a pair of Jacob Mueller layups, giving Cleary a 29-28 advantage.  Rio Grande answered, and the two teams continued to trade punches.  Five minutes into the second half, Rio Grande would start to find their footing, as the deficit would grow to twelve points.  Brian Everhart would connect on another three, and Amare Slaughter hit a pair of free throws to get the Cougars back to within eight points with just under 11:00 to play.  After a defensive stop, Amare Slaughter scored again, and the Cougars would only trail by six points.  After a Rio Grande time-out, the Red Storm retook their double-digit lead, and the Cougars found themselves once again having to fight an uphill battle.  Down nine, an Isaiah Bailey layup would cut the Red Storm lead to seven points.  After a defensive stop for the Cougars, Brian Everhart connected on a jumper, and the Cougars trailed 59-54.  A late Red Storm run would give Rio Grande a 68-57 lead.  Cleary would use the free throw line to get the deficit back to five points, but that would be as close as they would get before time expired, as the game ended with a 74-68 final score.

Jacob Mueller would lead the Cougars with 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Brian Everhart would add 11 points off the bench to be the only other scorer in double-figures for the Cougars.

The loss drops Cleary's record to 0-4 on the season.  The Cougars will look to bounce back on Wednesday, when they open WHAC play with their home-opener against the Aquinas College Saints.  The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM at Gannon Gymnasium in Lansing.