National News

 November 3, 2009

INA, Ill. - Freshmen accounted for nearly half of the Warriors' total points as Rend Lake College won its first college basketball game of the season Monday night in a 97-78 home opener over McKendree University's Junior Varsity squad.

RLC took the lead 43-32 at the half and was led in scoring by sophomore point guard Jimmy Abraham (Katy, Texas) with 22. Abraham hit nine field goals to lead a Warriors team that had five scorers in double figures and a lot of participation off the bench.

Freshmen Isaiah Cunningham (Eldorado, Ill.), Kyle Martin (Mt. Vernon, Ill.), James Pope (Gainesville, Fla.) and Dustin Winter (Pinckneyville, Ill.) combined for 40 points. Cunningham, a 6-6 forward from Eldorado High School, was third for RLC in scoring with six field goals and three-of-four from the line for 15. Sophomore Sotiris Psyrris (Athens, Greece) also hit six field goals for 16 points, and Winter and sophomore EJ Randolph (Mt. Vernon, Ill.) each scored a dozen.

McKendree was led by Rockwood, Ill.-product Brandon Dilday who is also listed on McKendree's varsity roster. The 6-5 sophomore forward scored 18.

Sophomore guard Reggie Reed (St. Petersburg, Fla.) was out for RLC with an ankle injury, but Warriors Head Coach Tim Wills said Reed's return is likely for Wednesday's home game against Lincoln College. It was the Lynx who derailed RLC's postseason run in the 2008-09 Region XXIV Tournament. Wills said his team, which is divided evenly among five freshmen and five sophomores this year, has a short memory when it comes to last season. The Warriors beat Lincoln twice in the regular season, but did not win when it counted.

"They remember it, but it's a whole different team for us and it's a whole different team for them," Wills said. "It's an important game because it's the one we are playing now and hopefully we can improve on what we did against McKendree. Lincoln will be a tough game. They will be very good and very talented. Hopefully, we will have Reggie back so we can add one more guy to our depth."

With depth in mind, Wills noted the crucial contributions from his freshmen in Monday night's win. RLC hit 14 three-pointers - four from Abraham, one apiece from Martin, Pope and Randolph; four from Psyrris and three from Winter.

"We shot the ball very well," Wills added. "Overall, for our first game of the year, I was happy. Sure we made a lot of mistakes, which you would expect. But the guys played really, really hard. We had only eight healthy guys and everyone contributed. That's important for us to have everyone involved. It was a good team effort."

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Wednesday night in James "Hummer" Waugh Gym on the RLC campus in Ina. For all things athletic at RLC, visit online at www.rlc.edu/warriors.