SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. - The IU Kokomo Men's Basketball team closed the regular season Saturday with an impressive road win over (RV) Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, beating the Pomeroys 71-67. The Cougars enter this week's River States Conference Championship with an overall record of 20-8, having won their last seven games.

The Pomeroys had already clinched the River States Conference regular season crown and an NAIA Tournament appearance prior to Saturday's contest, yet the Cougars entered in search of another resume-building win and a regular season sweep of the league's best.

In his seventh year at the helm of the program, Head Coach Eric Echelbarger has now led his squad to 20+ wins in all six full seasons, as the Cougars were 7-2 when the 2020-2021 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's team, while streaky, has battled through constant adversity yet seems to be playing their best basketball at the right time.

The IU Kokomo defense came to play once again on Saturday, holding the Pomeroys to 39% shooting from the field and a dismal 21% from three-point range. The Cougars only hit two threes themselves, yet shot 47% from the field.

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods took their first lead of the game at 7-6 after a fast-break dunk from Greg Jenkins before the two teams traded scoring-runs, culminating in an IUK timeout with SMWC leading 14-12.

With the game even at 18 at the midway point of the first half, the Cougars utilized an 8-0 run over the course of the next three and a half minutes, leading 26-18 with 6:30 to play in the half.

The Pomeroys cut the deficit to four, yet IU Kokomo re-built the lead to 12 points before taking a 42-33 lead into halftime. Max Newman and Kedric Anderson fueled the IUK offense in the first, combining to score 22 of IUK's 42 first-half points.

Once IU Kokomo extended the lead to double-digits at the 16:57 mark of the first half, the lead remained 10+ points until an SWMC free-throw trimmed the IUK lead to nine with 6:01 remaining in the game.

The Cougars lead did not dip below five until the there were just 33 seconds remaining, as Chris Chin hit a pair of free-throws and IUK got a stop on the defensive-end, closing out a 71-67 road win Saturday at (RV) SMWC.

Max Newman led IU Kokomo Saturday despite facing off against one of the RSC's best defenders in SMWC's Shon Tupuola. Newman finished with a game-high 18 points on 9-18 shooting from the field.

Chris Chin and Kedric Anderson each chipped in 14 points, as Chin added six rebounds and four assists while Anderson hauled in four boards. Chin, a fifth-year senior, was nails at the free-throw line, finishing 6-6 from the charity stripe.

Joseph Annan Jr. was the Cougars fourth and final double-digit scorer, totaling 12 points to go along with six rebounds. Dell DeMyers had a solid game, tallying seven points, five rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals. 

After a wild end to the year within the RSC East Division, RSC West #2 seed IU Kokomo will host RSC East #3 seed Rio Grande Wednesday night at 7:00 PM ET in a RSC Quarterfinal inside the Student Activities and Events Center.

For the latest news, updates, and information on the IU Kokomo Cougars, fans can visit IUKCougars.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Cougar news by following @IUKAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.