December 12, 2009

RedStorm lose heartbreaker to arch rival

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team lost a heartbreaker to arch rival Shawnee State on Saturday evening at the Newt Oliver Coaches Classic by a score of 72-70.

Rio Grande (4-7) trailed the entire game and fought back from a 14-point second half deficit to tie the game at 70-70 with 12.3 seconds remaining on a floater in the lane from sophomore point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH).

Shawnee State (3-8) had just enough time to go the length of the floor and hit the game-winner with 0.7 seconds left. Keelyn Franklin penetrated deep into the lane, drew a foul and was able to get the shot to go to give the Bears a 72-70 advantage. Franklin then purposely missed the free throw and the time ticked away on the rebound to give SSU the season sweep of Rio Grande. 

Shawnee scored the first 11 points of the game as the RedStorm went 5:03 without scoring out of the gate. Junior forward Meau Jones (Hartwell, GA) ended the drought with a baseline jumper from the left side and that sparked Rio to a 12-3 run to get back into the game at 14-12. 

Shawnee State then built the lead to 14 points (27-13) only to see Rio Grande battle back to cut it to six at halftime, 36-30.

The Bears took control of the game in the second half and then led by double digits for the majority of the 20 minutes. The lead would reach 14 points at 50-36. Rio kept chipping away until they finally tied the score on the Cubbie basket. The RedStorm never led in the game.

Sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) and junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) led Rio Grande with 17 points each. Campbell scored 14 of his 17 in the second half and had a lot to do with Rio getting back in the game. Teer collected his eighth double-double of the season as he pulled down 17 rebounds to go along with his 17 points. Jones also notched a double-double for the RedStorm with 12 points and 10 boards and senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) was held 10 points. 

Shawnee State placed five players in double figures led by Franklin's 21 points. Ian Nixson and Mark Bryant added 12 points each while Tyler Morgan and Tyler Boyles chipped in 10 each. 

Rio Grande dominated the glass 49-29, including an 18-7 on the offensive edge on the offensive boards, but could not gain the measure of the Bears on the scoreboard. Neither shot free throws very well, which was a big reason why the score was close. Rio shot well below its percentage for the season, connecting on only 18-of-30 (60 percent) from the line while Shawnee State hit 11-of-24 (45.8 percent) from the charity stripe. 

"We showed some urgency in the second half that we had not shown in the past," Rio Grande head coach Ken French said. "We didn't show it (last) Saturday against Brescia, but we did show it tonight."

"The problem was the first half, we dug ourselves such a deep hole that we had to battle of it, we had 13 turnovers in the first half," French added. "We've had games where we didn't have 13 turnovers this year, it's just uncharacteristic of us and the one thing I am proud of is our effort to come back."

"We gave ourselves a chance to win the game, we've just got to figure how to finish in the end," he said. "We broke down defensively, we had a great defensive possession and we force them to take a bad shot and we can't get the rebound; that was the big possession."

Shawnee State sweeps the season series. They defeated Rio Grande 87-77 in Portsmouth, November 17. 

Rio Grande will look to reverse its fortunes on Tuesday (December 15) versus Mount Vernon Nazarene. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. This is the Champions of Character Day Game. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 12:45 p.m.