Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team gave NAIA No. 4 Mountain State all it wanted in a non-conference game at the Newt Oliver Arena on Monday evening, falling short in an upset attempt, 84-70. 

Rio Grande (5-21) played well for the first 9:30 of the game in taking a 16-10 lead. 

Mountain State (24-2) then went on a 9-0 run to take the lead at 19-16. Rio would tie the score twice more at 19-19 and 21-21, before another 9-0 run by the Cougars gave the visitors a 30-21 lead. 

The Cougars would push the advantage to 15 points at halftime (42-27) and looked to be well on the way to pulling away from Rio Grande, but the RedStorm had other ideas.

Mountain State took a 45-27 lead in the opening moments of the second half. Rio Grande then went on a 17-1 run to cut the deficit to two points at 46-44 with 14:20 to play. 

Mountain State would ultimately get back control of the game, but Rio Grande battled to the final tick of the clock in falling by 14 points.

Sophomore forward Dani Marti (Valencia, Spain) had a big night in keeping the RedStorm close. He produced a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) also tossed in 15 points (nine in the second half), thanks to five three-pointers. 

Junior forward Shaun Gunnell (Columbus, OH) also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Senior center Robbie Jackson (Aberdeen, MD) added 10 points. 

Junior point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) led all players in the game with six assists.

Mountain State placed five players in double figures. Tay Spann led the way with a double-double effort of 15 points and 13 boards. Doug Wiggins and Mark Williams added 13 points each. Williams also dished out five assists and pulled down five rebounds. Winston Robinson tossed in 12 points and collected seven rebounds and Mantas Drungys chipped in 10 points (all in the second half). 

Rio dominated the glass against one of the top rebounding teams in the country. Rio out-rebounded Mountain State, 36-31 with a 17-6 advantage on the offensive glass. 

Rio Grande head coach Ken French said his team was not intimidated by the fourth rated team in the nation. "I don't think that our kids are ever intimidated by anyone and part of that reason is the make-up of the kids that we've got and the schedule we play," French said. "How many ranked opponents have we played this year? We'll play anybody, anywhere, it doesn't matter."

"They're fourth in the country, they're a very good team and you look at everything, take away the last five minutes of the first half and what kind of game could this have been?" French said. "How many times have I said that (this season)? We could tape record that and just keep playing the same post-game comments every game."

"It's the same thing every game, we battle, we give ourselves a chance and we're still battling at the end," French added. "We sent them to the free-throw line and they didn't miss."

Mountain State made 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.

Rio Grande will step back into Mid-South Conference play on Thursday when it plays host to Pikeville College. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. following the women's game. 

Pikeville won the first match-up between the two teams earlier this season. IHigh.com will have will play-by-play coverage of the game.