RedStorm struggle at St. Catharine

St. Catharine, Ky. --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team had a frustrating night on the road at St. Catharine College, Thursday night. Rio struggled shooting the ball, struggled with the pressure defense of the Patriots, struggled with the length and athleticism of the opposition and even struggled with what they do better than anyone, shoot free throws. All in all it added up to an 81-46 loss and keeps the RedStorm winless in the Mid-South Conference.

Points were hard to come by early in the game for both teams as neither side could get into a flow. Rio Grande led one time in the game at 7-6 after a three-pointer by senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) five minutes into the game.  

Rio Grande (5-22, 0-11 MSC) fell behind 27-17 after the Patriots began establish themselves in the paint. Freshman guard Tony Harris (Cincinnati, OH) rallied the RedStorm with back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to 27-23 with about four minutes to play in the half.

St. Catharine (19-8, 7-4 MSC) closed out the first half on a 14-0 run to lead 41-23 at halftime. The Patriots ended up scoring 20 unanswered points before Rase nailed a two-point shot at the top of the key with two minutes gone in the second half. 

Harris led Rio in scoring with 15 points while Rase added 13. 

St. Catharine was led by Ervin Williams with 20 points while Brandon Johnson added 12.

The RedStorm shot 33.3 percent (14-of-42) from the field, including 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from three-point land. Rio entered the game as the top free-throw shooting team in the country at the NAIA level (77.8 percent) but managed to cash in on only 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) tries in this game.

The Patriots were consistent, shooting 14-of-28 from the field in both halves to end up at 28-of-56 (50 percent) for the game. SCC did the bulk of its damage inside as they hit only 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. 

SCC also dominated the glass, out-rebounding Rio 40-28. The turnovers were a huge factor as Rio totaled 31 miscues to 17 for the Patriots. Twenty of the 31 turnovers were as a result of St. Catharine steals.

"We started off, the first five minutes were ugly, both ways, really ugly," said Rio Grande head coach Ken French. "It was low-scoring, you look up after four minutes and its' still 2-2 and then they go up and we're battling, it's right there, I think we took the lead and they go on another run and we sat on seven points forever."

"They never really got above 14 or 15 and then we started turning it over and the difference in the game is we turn it over 31 times and we shoot 33 percent and they shoot 50 percent," French added. "We never gave ourselves a chance; we were our own worst enemy."

"We looked like a very, very young, but a very, very tired team today," French said.

Rio's road trip will continue to NAIA No. 21 Cumberlands on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 3:45 p.m. after the women's game.

Rio lost to Cumberlands, 79-63 at Rio Grande on January 30.