Rio Grande beats Mt. Vernon... 91-84

[Focused]

RedStorm snap three-game skid
Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 3:24 PM - [Men's Basketball]
December 15, 2009

RedStorm snap three-game skid

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's basketball team ended a three-game losing skid with a 91-84 victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene at the Newt Oliver Arena on Tuesday afternoon.

Rio Grande (5-7) gained the lead at 12-8 early in the first half on back-to-back three-pointers from junior guard Doug Campbell (Salisbury, NC) and senior guard P.J. Rase (Wheelersburg, OH) and would lead for the remainder of the period. Rio would build the first half lead to as high as nine points at 39-30 and would take a 44-38 advantage to the locker room at halftime.


Mount Vernon Nazarene (5-6) would fight back from a seven-point deficit in the second half and the game became a back-and-forth affair with Rio Grande putting the game away at the free throw line in impressive fashion.

Campbell had the hot hand for the RedStorm as he went 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc en route to a 22-point effort to lead the way. Rase tallied 19 points and sophomore forward Bud Teer (Cleveland, OH) notched his ninth double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Rase also led Rio Grande with five assists.

"We've got a great core group of guys and we are all about the team," said Campbell. "We know that if one guy is having an off night, we've got to step and fill that void."

Sophomore point guard Brad Cubbie (Dayton, OH) added 10 points and four assists to the Rio attack.

The RedStorm pulled off an amazing feat in the victory, going 24-for-24 from the free throw line.

Rio Grande head coach Ken French commented that this was a team win. "I thought we fought today, I thought we fought hard and we made some plays that gave us an opportunity to win the game."

"Here lately we've had every break go against us, we've haven't been able to execute and make the plays and I thought today we did," French added. "We still stubbed our toe a little bit, we were leaking oil so to speak coming down the stretch, but we found a way to patch the hole and I'm proud of my guys."

"This was a great win to go into the break for us because we've been struggling and guys feel good about themselves, it was a great team win," French said.

Mount Vernon Nazarene guard Brandon Short led all scorers in the game with 28 points. Austin Kaiser and Robbie Taylor added 14 points each while Bryce Sanborn (12 points) and Travis Brown (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Cougars.

Rio will have some time off heading into the Christmas holiday and will resume the season with a road trip to Ashland University, December 28-29 to play in the Ashland University Classic. The RedStorm will face the host school Ashland at 7 p.m. on 28th.

[BubbleGumTiger]

[FrankieG]

The RedStorm also played UNOH in this holiday tourney. UNOH has on their roster a 6'5" sophomore named Dustin Guthrie (Vinton County High School grad.)
The RedStorm and the Racers matched up on Tuesday the 29th, the Racers came out on top in this one.

[Focused]

UNOH has a good team, and beat Rio handily.. Rio has a very young team with P.J. Rase being the only senior.. They are improving, but probably won't win many more games as they start conference schedule..