Men's Basketball Falls in Season Opener to Rio Grande

RIO GRANDE, Ohio- The men's basketball team went on the road for their season opener on Monday. The Bulldogs fell to the University of Rio Grande Redstorm 95-77. 

Charles Neverdon scored the first points of the season, a three-pointer that gave TWU a 3-0 advantage. Neverdon made two in a row and a layup by Armando Cuardado gave the Bulldogs a 8-4 lead. Omarion Barber moved the lead to 10-4 with a layup. Rio Grande cut the lead down to one point with 15:27 left and took the lead at the 14:38 mark. By the midway point of the first half, the Bulldogs led 15-13 after scores from Reshaun Hampton and Zhaelin Callahan. With 4:09 left, a pair of free throws by Tarik Islamovic broke a tie and gave Tennessee Wesleyan a 28-26 lead. The momentum did not stay with the Bulldogs though as the Redstorm ended the half on a 15-1 run to take a 41-29 lead into the halftime break.

Barber scored the first points of the second half for TWU as the team tried to come back. A pair of free throws by Ty Runyan made the score 46-32 two minutes into the second stanza. As the team kept chipping away at the deficit, the Bulldogs pulled within ten points with 8:05 left in the game on a pair of free throws by Runyan with the scoreboard reading 71-61. Rio Grande scored nine straight points to stop the run. Sohn McGee converted a three-point play to end the cold spell for Tennessee Wesleyan but the team was not able to pull closer as a Chris Cowan layup made the final score 95-77. 

Neverdon led the offense with 20 points. 

The Bulldogs (0-1) will play a neutral site game at the Chick-Fil-A Classic at Bethel University (Tenn.) against the University of Tennessee Southern on Friday. The game is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET.