November 17, 2009

RedStorm lose at Shawnee State

Portsmouth, Oh. --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team led for 37 minutes on Tuesday night at the James Rhodes Athletic Center. The problem was the RedStorm trailed for the final three minutes and lost 87-77 at Shawnee State. 

Rio Grande (3-2) played well early and got off to a good start grabbing a 17-11 lead. The majority of the first half was back and forth with Rio leading most of the way. The RedStorm surged out to a 39-29 advantage in the waning moments of the first half only to see Shawnee State (1-3) go an 11-0 run to take a 40-39 lead with a minute to play.

Rio junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) nailed a trifecta and hit a pair of free throws in the final minute to give the RedStorm a 44-40 lead at the half. Campbell scored 11 points for the game and also pulled down seven rebounds.

The second half saw the Bears battle back to tie the score on three occasions at 50-50, 54-54 and 73-73, but Rio seemed to always have an answer until the final three minutes of the game when Shawnee State gained control with a 76-73 lead.

The RedStorm just could not get anything to go down the stretch while Shawnee State slowly increased the margin.

Rio senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) led all scorers with 23 points and earned the Dick Hyland Player of the Game Award for Rio Grande. Sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) had a monster game and was an important factor in Rio Grande building its first half lead. Teer ended the night with 21 points and nine rebounds. 

Sophomore point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) also reached double figures with 11 points. 

Freshman forward Daniel Marti (Valencia, Spain) matched Teer with nine rebounds. 

Shawnee State placed five players in double figures led by Keelyn Franklin and Mark Bryant with 16 points each. Franklin tallied seven assists to go along with his 16 points in earning the Dick Hyland Player of the Game Award for Shawnee State. Ian Nixson added 15 points, including three huge three-pointers. Tyler Morgan chipped in 13 points to go along with seven rebounds and Tom Berlekamp tossed in 12 points and hauled in six boards.

Rio Grande head coach Ken French felt his team's execution down the stretch had a big impact on the outcome. "We stopped executing on the offensive end, took some bad shots and it got us a little flustered," he said. "We gave up a couple of offensive rebounds down on the defensive end. It wasn't our defense that broke down."

"The score doesn't indicate how close the game was," French added. "It was a one or two possession game, we kind of fell apart on the offensive end and we've got to learn from that."

"We're a young team, just like they are, both of these teams are going to battle for years to come with these groups that are on the floor," French said. "I thought down the stretch we got a little bit rattled, we didn't execute our stuff and we've got to learn from that."

Rio Grande will continue its road trip heading to Cedarville on Friday to face the Yellow Jackets in a tournament. Cedarville defeated Rio Grande earlier this season at the Giovanni's Tip-Off Classic at the Newt Oliver Arena, November 7.

Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. Stretch Internet will provide play-by-play coverage beginning at 7:45 p.m.