Posted: Feb 03, 2012
RedStorm men come up short against Campbellsville
Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - On one end of the floor, the University of Rio Grande was good enough to win.
On the other end, the RedStorm's shortcomings proved to be their undoing.
Head coach Ken French's squad held visiting Campbellsville well below its 73 points per game average, but Rio's own offensive struggles helped the Tigers escape with a 64-56 win over the RedStorm, Thursday night, in Mid-South Conference men's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
Campbellsville improved to 16-7 overall and 5-6 in the MSC with the win, while Rio Grande slipped to 11-12 overall and 2-7 inside the conference.
The Tigers built a seven-point halftime lead and made it stand up despite the fact two of their top three scorers for the season were held to just six points combined.
Junior guard Justin Ennis, who was averaging just under 14 points per game and coming off a 26-point outing in a win over then-No. 4 Georgetown last Saturday, failed to score after going 7-for-8 from the three-point range in the win just five days earlier. He entered the game ranked eighth in the country in three-pointers made and in 3-Pt. FG percentage.
Senior forward Reggie Smith, who averaged just over 11 points per game, was held to just six points and failed to connect on a three-pointer.
But senior guard Cedric Henderson more than made up the difference, though. The Houston native poured in a game-high 26 points, including 18 in the second half.
"Defensively, we executed our gameplan. If someone had told us before the game that we were going to hold Smith to six points in 34 minutes and Ennis scoreless in 36 minutes, I would've said that we'd take it," French said. "Henderson, especially in the second half, made some adjustments on their ball screening and attacked the basket instead of looking to distribute the ball. He stepped and made some plays. But the bottom line is that we still only gave up 64 points - our defense was good enough to win - but we had some costly turnovers and took some bad shots on offense that cost us."
The RedStorm had just 14 turnovers in the game, but many of those came at inopportune times as they tried to chip away at a Campbellsville lead which grew to as many as 12 points, 40-28, following a conventional three-point play by Henderson with 14:38 remaining in the game.
Rio Grande responded by scoring 11 of the game's next 13 points and pulled to within 42-39 after a three-pointer by junior forward Turrell Morris (Columbus, OH) with 10:34 left, but got no closer the rest of the way.
Jonas Bohm, Campbellsville's 6-9 center from Berlin, Germany, backed Henderson's strong second half with one of his, scoring eight of his game total 14 points after the break.
Jordan Myers added 10 points of the bench for the Tigers, including both ends of a one-and-bonus free throw situation with 14.9 seconds left after the RedStorm had cut the deficit to 60-56 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Jermaine Warmack (Orange, NJ) just five seconds earlier - the second time inside the final 30 seconds that Rio had whittled the Campbellsville lead down to four.
"We work on getting a score and a stop, a stop and a score and we were down to that segment of the game," French said. "We put ourselves in a great position late. We had two opportunities to cut into it when it was a four-point game, but we turned it over the first time and we missed a shot the second time. When you get down in crunch time like that you have to make the plays. Saturday (in a win over WVU Tech) we made plays, tonight we didn't."
Senior forward Shaun Gunnell (Columbus, OH) led Rio Grande with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Morris finished with 11 points. Junior center Dominick Haynes (Cleveland, OH) also had seven rebounds.
The RedStorm returns to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting St. Catharine College for a 4 p.m. tipoff. The Patriots dropped a 78-69 decision at WVU Tech Thursday night.
"We have to bounce back," French said. "Talent-wise, St. Cats might have the most talent in our league. We're going to have to play well on both ends of the floor. It'll be a totally different type of game. They want it to be up-tempo and they'll put five athletic guys out there who can flat out score."
A webcast of Saturday's game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm beginning at 3:45 p.m.
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - On one end of the floor, the University of Rio Grande was good enough to win.
On the other end, the RedStorm's shortcomings proved to be their undoing.
Head coach Ken French's squad held visiting Campbellsville well below its 73 points per game average, but Rio's own offensive struggles helped the Tigers escape with a 64-56 win over the RedStorm, Thursday night, in Mid-South Conference men's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
Campbellsville improved to 16-7 overall and 5-6 in the MSC with the win, while Rio Grande slipped to 11-12 overall and 2-7 inside the conference.
The Tigers built a seven-point halftime lead and made it stand up despite the fact two of their top three scorers for the season were held to just six points combined.
Junior guard Justin Ennis, who was averaging just under 14 points per game and coming off a 26-point outing in a win over then-No. 4 Georgetown last Saturday, failed to score after going 7-for-8 from the three-point range in the win just five days earlier. He entered the game ranked eighth in the country in three-pointers made and in 3-Pt. FG percentage.
Senior forward Reggie Smith, who averaged just over 11 points per game, was held to just six points and failed to connect on a three-pointer.
But senior guard Cedric Henderson more than made up the difference, though. The Houston native poured in a game-high 26 points, including 18 in the second half.
"Defensively, we executed our gameplan. If someone had told us before the game that we were going to hold Smith to six points in 34 minutes and Ennis scoreless in 36 minutes, I would've said that we'd take it," French said. "Henderson, especially in the second half, made some adjustments on their ball screening and attacked the basket instead of looking to distribute the ball. He stepped and made some plays. But the bottom line is that we still only gave up 64 points - our defense was good enough to win - but we had some costly turnovers and took some bad shots on offense that cost us."
The RedStorm had just 14 turnovers in the game, but many of those came at inopportune times as they tried to chip away at a Campbellsville lead which grew to as many as 12 points, 40-28, following a conventional three-point play by Henderson with 14:38 remaining in the game.
Rio Grande responded by scoring 11 of the game's next 13 points and pulled to within 42-39 after a three-pointer by junior forward Turrell Morris (Columbus, OH) with 10:34 left, but got no closer the rest of the way.
Jonas Bohm, Campbellsville's 6-9 center from Berlin, Germany, backed Henderson's strong second half with one of his, scoring eight of his game total 14 points after the break.
Jordan Myers added 10 points of the bench for the Tigers, including both ends of a one-and-bonus free throw situation with 14.9 seconds left after the RedStorm had cut the deficit to 60-56 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Jermaine Warmack (Orange, NJ) just five seconds earlier - the second time inside the final 30 seconds that Rio had whittled the Campbellsville lead down to four.
"We work on getting a score and a stop, a stop and a score and we were down to that segment of the game," French said. "We put ourselves in a great position late. We had two opportunities to cut into it when it was a four-point game, but we turned it over the first time and we missed a shot the second time. When you get down in crunch time like that you have to make the plays. Saturday (in a win over WVU Tech) we made plays, tonight we didn't."
Senior forward Shaun Gunnell (Columbus, OH) led Rio Grande with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Morris finished with 11 points. Junior center Dominick Haynes (Cleveland, OH) also had seven rebounds.
The RedStorm returns to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting St. Catharine College for a 4 p.m. tipoff. The Patriots dropped a 78-69 decision at WVU Tech Thursday night.
"We have to bounce back," French said. "Talent-wise, St. Cats might have the most talent in our league. We're going to have to play well on both ends of the floor. It'll be a totally different type of game. They want it to be up-tempo and they'll put five athletic guys out there who can flat out score."
A webcast of Saturday's game will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm beginning at 3:45 p.m.