February 21, 2010

RedStorm hit cold spell in loss at Cumberlands

Williamsburg, Ky. --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team entered the game at NAIA No. 21 University of the Cumberlands on Saturday afternoon with a game-plan they thought would be successful. It worked for a while, but the RedStorm went ice cold from the field over the final seven minutes and were buried 76-45.

The game started as planned for Rio Grande (5-23, 0-12 MSC) as the RedStorm used a slower pace to try to reign in the Patriots. Rio hit 4 of its first 10 shots in jumping out to an 8-3 lead. Cumberlands (19-8, 8-4 MSC) conversely started 1-for-9 from the field.

Even after Cumberlands got the lead at 22-17 and began showing signs of taking control of the game, Rio battled back to take a 25-22 lead with 1:59 to play in the first half after freshman guard Tony Harris (Cincinnati, OH) buried a three-pointer. 

Cumberlands closed out the first half on a 9-2 run to lead 31-27 at halftime. 

Rio still would not go away in the second half as it stayed within striking distance at 47-40 with approximately seven minutes remaining. UC then went on an 18-2 run to get the distance it needed to put Rio Grande away, making the score 65-42. 

Rio just could not get anything to go through the hoop in the second half, connecting on only 4-of-26 (15.4 percent) attempts from the field, including a 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) effort from long range. The one made three was a 38-footer by senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH). Rase would score 11 points in the game. 

For the game, Rio shot 29.6 percent (16-of-54) from the field and 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from three-point land. 

Harris led the RedStorm in scoring for the second consecutive game with 12 points (10 in the first half). 

Cumberlands used a balanced attack with the duo of Tanner Jacobs and Chad Byron leading the way with 13 points each. Jacobs did all of his damage in the second half. Nathaniel Mitchell added 12 points while Dustin Fothergill (11 points) and Brandon Russ (10 points) also reached double figures. Byron also led the Patriots in assists with six while Jacobs recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with his 13 points. 

"We hit a stone wall and a lot of that had to do with them," said Rio Grande head coach Ken French. "A lot of it had to with, we changed our game-plan and we came in here, we were going to be very deliberate and slow the game down and I thought in the first half we did that."

"I thought for that 20 minutes we executed the game-plan very well and we came out in the second half, they kind of extended it (the lead) and got it at double figures and I thought we hit the panic button a little bit and when it went to double figures, lets' don't lie, when you're in the situation that we're in and you see it go to double figures like that I think it demoralizes," French added. "I'm not saying that our guys quit because we didn't, we feel like we're just fighting such a steep, uphill battle whenever that happens."

"I'm proud of the way we played in the first half because that's hard for a team that's so up-tempo to but the brakes on," French said. "The second half just got away from us a little bit." 

Rio Grande will close out the road portion of the 2009-10 regular season on Thursday (February 25) at Pikeville College. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. following the women's game. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 7:45 p.m. 

Rio narrowly missed upsetting the then ranked Bears at the Newt Oliver Arena, January 28. Pikeville held on for an 84-83 win.