November 30, 2009

Rio's furious comeback falls short

Frankfort, Ky. --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team made a furious second half comeback on day two of the Mid-South Conference Thanksgiving Challenge only to fall short to the University of St. Francis (IN), 98-90, on Saturday afternoon at the Frankfort Civic Center. 

Rio Grande (4-5) started strong surging out to a 10-5 lead on the strength of the pair of trifectas from junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC). The RedStorm would build the lead to as high as 10 points at 29-19 in the first half.

From that point on St. Francis (6-2) took control of the game, going on a 9-0 to cut the deficit to one point at 29-28. Ultimately, the Cougars went on a 23-5 spurt to go up 42-34 in the waning moments of the first half. St. Francis took a 45-36 lead to the locker room.

In the second half, St. Francis continued with its onslaught by taking an 18-point lead at 63-45. 

Rio found a second wind and had the lead cut to 10 points (83-73) at the 6:03 mark and actually took the lead at 87-86 with 2:01 to play after a pair of free throws from sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH). 

St. Francis was able to get back control of the game as the RedStorm ran out of gas in the final two minutes and fell 98-90.

Teer was hard to handle inside as he posted another double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Rio attack. Senior guard P. J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) didn't have the success that he had on Friday, but still scored 16 points. Campbell and fellow backcourt mate, sophomore Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) tossed in 13 points each. Cubbie also pulled down seven rebounds. 

St. Francis had four players score in double figures led by point guard Qadr Owens with 21 points. DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis added 19 points and Brad Sneary had a double-double effort of 16 points and 10 boards. 

"We grew up this weekend," said Rio Grande head coach Ken French. "We got a win yesterday, we put ourselves in a situation to win today and came up short."

"Now what we've got to do is eliminate those stretches where we can't execute and we break down," French added. "Our offense dictates how hard we play on defense and we've got to eliminate those stretches and we can become a better basketball team."

"I thought our guys grew up on this trip a lot and you've got give St. Francis credit, they're a very good team, they're well-coached and they'll make some noise in Division II."

Rio Grande will return home on Saturday (December 5) to take on Brescia at the Newt Oliver Arena. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 3:45 p.m.