RIO GRANDE, Ohio -- Following a road win at St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) on Tuesday, the Midway men's basketball continued their three-game road swing on Thursday night with a trip to Rio Grande (Ohio) for a River States Conference matchup.

After closing the first half on an 11-0 run to take a one-point lead into the locker room, the RedStorm answered Midway's run to close the first half and opened the second half on a 10-4 run to regain the lead for good as they held on for the 58-54 victory in Newt Oliver Arena.

With the loss, Joe Krupinski's squad slips to 15-10 overall and 8-8 in River States Conference play, while the RedStorm improve to 16-13 overall and 10-7 in league play following the win.

Back-to-back jumpers from Rico Tate (Memphis, Tenn.) and Raekwon Evans (Louisville, Ky.) gave Midway a brief 4-2 lead in the early going, but it would be their only lead until the final moments of the first half.

Rio Grande answered with a 7-0 run to regain the 9-4 advantage as they would lead by as many as nine before stretching their lead to its largest of the game a 30-20 with 4:37 left in the opening stanza.

The Eagles, however, closed the half on an 11-0 run getting five points from Tate and four points before Nick Keeton (Paintsville, Ky.) before Recardo Travis (Louisville, Ky.) hit a layup as the first half buzzer sounded as the Blue and Gold would take a 31-30 lead into the locker room.

Travis then opened the second half with yet another layup as Midway took their largest lead of the contest in the opening 30 seconds of the second half. The RedStorm answered with an 11-2 run to regain a 41-35 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

A trey from Travis cut the Rio Grande lead to 53-52 with 1:07 remaining in regulation, but a 4-0 run extended the RedStorm lead back to 57-52. A layup by Cory Gardner (Owensboro, Ky.) and a missed free throw by Miki Tadic left the door for the Eagles, but Midway missed a game tying heave in the final seconds as Rio Grande held on for the 58-54 victory.

Three players reached double figures for the Eagles led by 17 points from Recardo Travis who hit 8-of-17 from the floor. Raekwon Evans nearly notched another double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Rico Tate carded 11 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Midway finished the contest shooting 43.1 percent from the floor, while holding the RedStorm to 36.1 percent. The difference was the charity stripe where Rio Grande hit 9-of-13 compared to just 2-of-2 from the visitors.

Midway is now scheduled to wrap up the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 19) when they travel to Owensboro, Ky. to battle Brescia (Ky.) at 2 p.m. ET. The Eagles will look to sweep the season series after winning the first meeting – 67-55 – on Jan. 18 in Marshall Gymnasium.

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