March 5, 2010

Season ends for RedStorm men

Frankfort, Ky. --- The 2009-10 basketball season came to an end for the University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's team on Friday morning in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-South Conference Tournament. Rio, the No. 8 seed, lost 93-77 to top-seeded and NAIA No. 7 Campbellsville, the MSC regular season champion.

Rio Grande (5-26) led twice in the game at 5-4 and 8-6. Campbellsville (26-5) built the lead to as high as 16 points in the first half on three different occasions at 33-17, 39-23 and 44-28.

The Tigers led 47-32 at the half after a controversial tip-in by Justin Vitatoe. The official ruling was that Vitatoe beat the buzzer, much to the chagrin of the Rio bench, who argued that the tip-in occurred after the buzzer had sounded. 

Senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) did all he could do in trying extend Rio Grande's season in his final game. He matched his career-high of 34 points, which included an amazing 17-for-17 effort at the free throw line. Rase scored 34 points at the same venue on November 27 when the RedStorm defeated Virginia Intermont 95-51 at the Mid-South Challenge. Rase also matched junior Wendell Bates, Jr. (Akron, OH) with six rebounds to lead the RedStorm in that category. 

An emotional Rase talked about the finality of the loss and the end of his college career after the game. "I guess every good thing has to end. It was fun, it really was, but I got things coming, I'm getting married in August, so bigger and better things to come," he said. "I learned a lot, I made a lot of good friends and a lot of good memories and I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) added 15 points (10 in the second half) and sophomore point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) chipped in 10 points.

Campbell, a co-captain this season and senior-to-be in 2010-11, talked about next season and what he expects. "It's just our approach now to never forget what we went through this year and it's never going to happen again," Campbell said. "We will let that motivate us to work hard and get better to the point where we can compete in this league and be a good team." 

Rio Grande, who entered the game as the NAIA's top free-throw shooting team did nothing but enhance its percentage, making 25-of-26 attempts (96.2 percent) from the charity stripe.  

Campbellsville increased the advantage to 60-36 in the second half, but the spirit of the Rio team stayed strong and the RedStorm battled to the final horn. Rio cut the deficit to 11 points (88-77) with 1:16 to play. 

The Tigers were paced by Nestor Colmenares, the MSC Player of the Year, as he produced 23 points and 14 rebounds. He also handed out five assists. JaVaughn Espritt nearly added a double-double off the bench with 21 points and nine rebounds. Brett Crittenden scored 13 points off the bench and T.J. Bishop tossed in 12 points to go along with five assists. 

"I thought our guys played hard for 40 minutes, we had some things that went against us but we knew that was going to happen," Rio Grande head coach Ken French said. "We were the eighth seed, playing the No. 1 seed, who is very good, they're one of the best teams in the country."

"I thought our guys played hard and I'm really proud of our effort," French added. "There are not very many people who understand what we have gone through this year and it's been extremely difficult. It's been difficult on me, it's been difficult on the players, it's been difficult on our significant others, those close to our program, it's been very tough."

"We could have folded, there's not a lot of 5-25 teams that got down like we did and I don't know what the lead grew to, but we cut it to 13 with four minutes to play and that tells you a lot about our team," French said. 

French took a moment to talk about Rase and what he has meant to the program. "Best shooter in the country, he's the best shooter in the country, he proved that he should have been 1^st team all-conference and there won't be anyone else who will score 34 points in this tournament probably," French said. "P.J. is a great kid, a great young man we've talked about that numerous times. I love P.J. Rase and we're going to miss him a lot."

French is committed to make sure Rio Grande does not have a repeat of this season again. "Quote me on this ‘we will not go through this next year,'" French said. "I've never been more driven or more focused on what we have to do in our basketball program."