January 14, 2010

RedStorm men fall in first MSC tilt

Rio Grande --- The night started well for the University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team in their first ever Mid-South Conference game, but a 9-0 run by Lindsey Wilson late in the first half was the springboard to a come-from-behind victory at the Newt Oliver Arena. LWC knocked off Rio by a score of 71-58 on Thursday evening.

Rio Grande (5-12, 0-1 MSC) suffered a fifth consecutive loss, but it didn't look like that was going to be the case in the first half as the RedStorm came out firing on all cylinders, capturing a 17-10 lead. Rio Grande would push the lead to eight points on two different occasions in the first half at 23-15 and 32-24. 

Lindsey Wilson (10-7, 1-0 MSC), who won for the third straight time, put together a 9-0 run in the final minutes of the first half and led for the first time in the game with 15 seconds on the clock. The Blue Raiders would take a 33-32 advantage to halftime.

Rio would briefly get the lead in the second half at 38-35 and stayed close until the final three minutes when the size of Lindsey Wilson wore them down. 

"It comes down to bodies and they've got more bodies than we've got right now as far as big bodies on the inside and they just wore us down," said Rio Grande head coach Ken French. 

French also complimented the Blue Raiders on their defensive effort as they held Rio Grande senior sharpshooter and leading scorer P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) to eight points in the game. "That's probably the best anybody's defended P.J. Rase all year, they did a good job on him," French said. 

Junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) led the RedStorm in scoring for the second straight game as he poured in 14 points, nailing four three's in four tries in the first half. Sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) added 12 points and led Rio Grande with seven rebounds while freshman forward Daniel Marti (Valencia, Spain) chipped in 10 points.

French was pleased with his team's effort, but also pinpointed the problem for the RedStorm in this game. "I thought our guys battled, played hard but the problem is, we scored in transition, but when we kept fouling them and putting them on the line, they kept getting rebounds," he said. "We had five really good defensive possessions at the end of the game and they got five offensive rebounds."

"That's the difference in the game." 

Lindsey out-rebounded Rio Grande 45-25, including a whopping 24-11 on the offensive glass. 

Lindsey Wilson was led Andrija Tintor off the bench with 19 points and eight rebounds.   Eric McPherson added 15 points (14 in the second half) and Kalen Kimberland chipped in 11 points. McPherson also dished out five assists. 

Rio Grande will look to reverse its current course with a road game at WVU Tech on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. following the women's game. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 3:45 p.m.