Rio Grande Sports Information
   WISE, Va. - Saturday afternoon's regular season road finale turned out to be the latest chapter in the University of Rio Grande's book of narrow losses.
   And at this rate, it'd be hard to blame the RedStorm for feeling as if that book was becoming as thick as "War and Peace".   Rio Grande shaved a 10-point second half deficit to just two twice in the final 31 seconds, but UVA-Wise's Darius Smith hit all six of his free throw attempts down the stretch to secure a 62-59 win for the Cavaliers, Saturday afternoon, in Mid-South Conference action at the Convocation Center.
   The Cavaliers improved to 9-14 overall and 6-9 in the league with the win, avenging an overtime loss at Rio Grande on January 14 in the process.
   The RedStorm slipped to 12-16 overall and 3-11 in the MSC with their fourth straight setback.  Eleven of the team's 16 losses have come by eight points or less - including eight conference contests.
   The loss also guaranteed that Rio Grande will play rival Shawnee State in the Mid-South Conference Tournament play-in game on Monday, February 27, regardless of what the RedStorm does in its final two regular season games this week against Georgetown College on Thursday night and against the Bears on Saturday.
   If Rio could manage wins in both games, it would host the play-in game next week and Shawnee to make a second trip to the Newt Oliver Arena in a span of three days. A loss in one, or both, of the contests would mean the RedStorm will face the Bears in Portsmouth for the play-in game, with the winner advancing to the quarterfinal round of the tourney beginning March 3 in Frankfort, Ky.
   Rio Grande led just once in Saturday's loss - 2-1 following a layup by junior center Dominick Haynes (Cleveland, OH) just over two minutes into the game - but the RedStorm certainly made the Cavaliers earn their victory.
   Wise led by as many as 11 points twice in the first half and had a trio of 10-point cushions in the second half, including 39-29 after Josh Jordan slammed in an offensive rebound with 13:44 left in the game.
   However, Jordan was hit with a technical foul for taunting following the dunk and Rio freshman guard Evan Legg (Piketon, OH) quickly cut the deficit in half by hitting both free throws  after the technical and then drilling a left wing three-pointer on the RedStorm's subsequent possession to make it 39-34 with 13:06 remaining.
   Rio continued to chip away and drew to within 56-54 on a layup by senior forward Shaun Gunnell (Columbus, OH) with 31.1 seconds left and 58-56 after a runner by senior guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) with 18.2 seconds remaining, but Smith answered with a pair of free throws each time.
   Gunnell made it a one-possession game again by connecting on one of two free throws with 9.4 seconds left, but Smith nailed two more shots from the charity stripe to push the Cavs' lead to five, 62-57, with 8.7 seconds to play.
   The RedStorm got a driving layup from freshman guard Tykeim Moss (Columbus, OH) with 3.9 seconds left to once again make it a one-possession game and then gained one last chance to tie when Smith stepped out of bounds in front of the Rio bench with three-tenths of a second showing on the clock, but the Cavaliers knocked away the inbounds pass to seal the win.
   Smith finished with a team-high 22 points for Wise, 15 of which came in the second half. He was also 11-for-12 from the free throw line - all after halftime. Travis Berry added 17 points in the victory and Jordan contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds.
   Gunnell tied a career-high with 23 points and yanked down 12 rebounds to lead Rio Grande, while Cubbie and Moss netted 10 points each.
   Junior forward Turrell Morris (Columbus, OH) and sophomore guard Jermaine Warmack (Orange, NJ), both starters and two of the RedStorm's leading scorers for the season, failed to score.
   Thursday's game with Georgetown is scheduled for an 8 p.m. tipoff.