KOKOMO, Ind. - The IU Kokomo Men's Basketball team made it eight-straight wins with Wednesday night's 66-46 River States Conference Quarterfinal victory over the RedStorm of Rio Grande, using an enthusiastic second half effort to move on.

After a wild end to the regular season standings in the RSC East Division, all four East Division squads fell to their West Division opponents Wednesday night. Brescia upset IU East on the road while IU Southeast did the same to Shawnee State, punching the Grenadiers a ticket to Kokomo for Saturday's match-up. West Division #1 seed SMWC handled Alice Lloyd at home.

The strong IU Kokomo defense was on full display once again with just eight healthy Cougars, holding the RedStorm to 26% shooting from the field and a dismal 16% from three-point range.

Wednesday's match-up with Rio Grande got off to a slow start for both teams offensively, yet Kedric Anderson scored the first four points as IU Kokomo led 6-0 until the 16:30 mark. The RedStorm evened things up quickly however, as the game was knotted at six at the under 15 media timeout.

Rio Grande's Jaylin Fox drilled a triple to give the RedStorm a 16-13 lead, forcing an Eric Echelbarger timeout. IU Kokomo responded with six-straight points out of the timeout, outscoring URG 9-1 over the course of the next four minutes.

Having extended the lead to as many as eight with 4:06 remaining in the first half, the Cougars led 32-26 after 20 minutes.

IU Kokomo came out of the locker room with a different level of energy, outscoring Rio Grande 19-3 in the opening seven and a half minutes of the second half, taking a commanding 51-29 lead thanks to Dell DeMyers's second triple in the last four possessions.

The RedStorm never managed to put together a valiant comeback bid, only trimming the deficit to 17 with 2:05 to play. After a tightly-contested first half, the Cougars utilized a dominant second-half effort to post a 66-46 victory over Rio Grande in the RSC Quarterfinals.

Junior forward Kedric Anderson, the pride of Anderson High School and Anderson, Indiana, led all scorers Wednesday night with 19 points on an efficient 8-11 shooting from the field. His 19 points are good for an IU Kokomo career-high in his first year as a Cougar, with his previous best being 14 on two separate occasions.

Joseph Annan Jr. and Max Newman each finished with 12 points, while Newman added 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season. Chris Chin added 11 points, knocking down a pair of triples while finishing 4-6 from the field.

The Cougars advance to host RSC West #4 seed IU Southeast in a RSC Semifinal Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM, inside the Student Activities and Events Center on the campus of IU Kokomo.

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.