February 13, 2010

RedStorm men lose to Campbellsville

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team had to deal with a three-game week, had to deal with rebounding from a heartbreaking loss on the road Thursday at Lindsey Wilson and had to deal with Mid-South Conference leader and NAIA No. 8 Campbellsville on Saturday afternoon at the Newt Oliver Arena. It was not a formula for success as the RedStorm lost 77-57. 

Rio Grande (5-21, 0-10 MSC) opened up the game on fire, jumping out to a 15-5 lead. After the quick start, the RedStorm hit the wall and the game belonged to Campbellsville (20-6, 8-2 MSC). 

Following the opening burst Rio would score only seven more points in the first half and trailed 32-22 at the half. 

Campbellsville delivered the knockout punch in the early moments of the second half and the RedStorm could not recover, as they were out-scored 45-35 after halftime. 

Sophomore power forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) led the RedStorm with 15 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) had a tough shooting night, but still managed to score in double figures with 11 points. Rase went only 2-of-10 from the field in the game and did the bulk of his damage from the free throw line in which he was, a perfect, 6-for-6. 

Teer and Rase were the only Rio players to score in double figures. Freshman point guard Tony Harris (Cincinnati, OH) nearly reached double figures, scoring nine points. 

Sophomore forward Shaun Gunnell (Columbus, OH) led the RedStorm in rebounding with seven. 

Campbellsville had a huge second half, shooting 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the field after halftime. For the game, the Tigers shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60), including 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. 

NAIA All-American candidate Nestor Colmenares proved too much to handle for Rio Grande inside as he led all scorers with 20 points. He nearly recorded a double-double, collecting nine rebounds. Jordan Benock added 12 points (all in the second half). Two other Tigers were on the verge of double figures in JaVaughn Espritt and T.J. Bishop with nine points each. Espritt led all players with 16 rebounds.

A key to the game was that Campbellsville shared the ball extremely well, accumulating 18 assists on 31 made baskets. The Tigers also dominated Rio Grande on the glass by a 44-22 margin, including 14-5 on the offensive boards.   

Rio struggled from the field, shooting only 36.5 percent (19-of-52) from the field and 4-of-15 (26.7 percent) from three-point land. 

"I think our schedule caught up with us. We played three games this week and that's not an excuse, the bottom line is, on Thursday we had a very long trip, we don't get back until after five in the morning and then we're back on Friday and basically Friday's a wash, you can't do anything," Rio Grande head coach Ken French said. "I think that played a factor, I think we bottomed out."

"We started with a lot of energy and got a 10-point lead and then everything just bottomed out from there," French added. "It wasn't like our guys weren't trying to play hard. It's just mentally and physically we were exhausted." 

Rio will travel to St. Catharine on Thursday (February 18) for an 8 p.m. tip-off. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 7:45 p.m. 

St. Catharine won the first meeting, 101-71, at the Newt Oliver Arena on January 21.