RIO GRANDE, Ohio — The University of Rio Grande bolted to a 23-point first half and never looked back, rolling to a 78-49 win over the University of Cincinnati-Clermont, Sunday afternoon, in men’s basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.

The RedStorm improved to 5-9 with the victory, snapping a three-game losing slide in the process.

UC-Clermont fell to 4-16 with a seventh straight loss.

Rio Grande jumped to a 16-4 lead inside the game’s first five minutes and continued to pull away from the outmanned Cougars, opening up a 23-point cushion at 42-19 following a jumper by junior forward Karl Moore (Detroit, MI) with 3:53 left before the intermission.

The RedStorm settled for a 46-24 advantage at the break and Clermont, which scored the first four points of the second half to slice the deficit to 18 points, got no closer the rest of the way.

Rio’s biggest lead of the day was 34 points, 78-44, following a bucket by junior center Makka Garba (N’Djamena, Chad) with 2:16 left to play.

Senior center Dominick Haynes lead five RedStorm players in double figures with 14 points. He also pulled down nine rebounds.

Freshman guard D.D. Joiner had 13 points and a game-high four steals, while Moore finished with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Freshman forward Austin McMaster and junior forward Bruce Komakech netted 12 and 10 points, respectively, in the winning effort and junior guard Jermaine Warmack dished out nine assists.

Rio Grande shot 44.8 percent from the field (30-for-67) and enjoyed a whopping 53-25 edge in rebounding.

Kendall Beamon had 16 points to lead UC-Clermont, while Davyne Davis had nine points, five rebounds and five assists. Darwin Tolliver also had nine points and five boards in the loss.

The Cougars, who dressed just eight players for the game, hit just nine of their 32 first half shots from the field for 28.1 percent.