February 11, 2009 by Chris Frechette | A10CollegeHoops

KINGSTON, RI  – URI Coach Jim Baron said it best, “This was a tale of two half’s.”  That statement was as on the mark as a Jimmy Baron three pointer.  It appeared as if the teams traded uniforms in the locker room at halftime.

St. Bonaventure (12-11, 3-7 A-10) decimated the URI press en route to a 49-34 halftime lead.  The Rams looked good in the first five minutes of the game building an 8-5 lead with 15:24 remaining when Will Martell, URI’s 7 foot center, picked up his second foul and sent him to the bench with four points.  Not coincidentally St. Bonaventure went on a 9-2 run to make the score 14-10 Bonnies, with 13:53 left in the first half.  After trading buckets for the next minute and a half, the Bonnies made another run.  With 12:21 left in the half, St. Bonaventure went on an 8-0 run as Malcolm Eleby beat the Ram press for a layup, freshman Andrew Nicholson (19 points, 13 in the first half) chipped in his own layup and free throw as he was fouled by Delroy James, and Tyler Benson hit an open 3 pointer the next time down court with 11:08 left in the half to give the Bonnies a 27-18 lead.

St.Bonaventure Coach Mark Schmidt when asked on his teams first half, “I thought we played extremely well in the first half, we shot the ball, and shared the ball extremely well. We did well against their press and they backed off.”  And back off they did as URI abandoned the press after a layup by Jonathan Hall on a pass from Chris Matthews at the 9:56 mark which put the Bonnies up 32-20.

St. Bonaventure wasn’t done yet, as they closed out the last 4:47 of the first half with an 11-2 run with point contributions from five different players to build their halftime advantage to 49-34.

No doubt the Rams were embarrassed being down by 15 at home at halftime.  Said URI forward Kahiem Seawright, “Everybody saw the first half, it was disgusting, they got whatever they wanted, open threes, layups, they outrebounded us (19-11).”

URI guard Jimmy Baron put the first half in context, “We were embarrassed as a team on our first half play, a lot of mistakes, we were very emotional in the locker room, it was unacceptable, no excuses.  Our defense was not good in the first half and I think that was the biggest adjustment we made.”

Jim Baron, on what was said in the locker room at halftime, “We got some upperclassmen, and I talked to them about taking responsibility, they (St. Bonaventure) out-worked us in the first half and took it to us.  We came out flat and they took advantage of it.  You got to be ready for each team you play.”

Whatever was said at halftime, it worked as the Rams went on a 16-5 run at the beginning of the first half cutting their deficit to 54-50 at the 15:40 mark.  Ten of those points were scored by Jimmy Baron, who scored 23 of his game high 28 points in the second half despite playing with a sore back.  “It (my back) hurts, it’s sore, but once you step out onto the court; you can’t think about it”, said Jimmy Baron.

“Jimmy had a great game, he hasn’t practiced in the last two days, he was in the zone,” said Coach Baron.

Baron’s biggest shot of the game may have come at the 8:53 mark when, down 64-61, Baron dribbled the ball about ten feet past the top of the key, stopped, and popped a 30 foot three pointer to tie the game at 64-64.

“We knew he could shoot it from the CVS logo,” Schmidt said, referring to the CVS logo near midcourt on the Ryan Center floor, “he hit some tough shots and if you give him some easy ones he gets his rhythm.”

Asked about how he felt when he took that shot, Baron replied, “When you feel it, I can’t explain it, it just happens and when you’re at home, you spot up and let it go, you don’t think about it.”

And Jimmy Baron was feeling it, he hit a fadeaway three pointer to break a 66-66 tie and after a Delroy James steal the Rams regrouped and found Baron again for a three pointer to give Rhode Island (17-8, 6-4 A-10) a 72-68 lead.  James made another steal at midcourt and finished unabated to the hoop with a thunderous dunk which brought the 4,211 in attendance at the Ryan Center to its feet as the Bonnies called a timeout, down 74-68 with 2:39 left to play.

The closest the Bonnies would get was 85-80 after a three pointer by Tyler Benson, but with just 20 seconds left in the contest, it was too little too late.

Schmidt said, “It’s a disappointing loss as well as we played in the first half.  Ask any coach, the first five minutes of each half are critical.  We turned the ball over 12 times in second half, it’s hard to beat anybody.”

The turnover situation (St. Bonaventure 18, URI 10) was the difference in the game, the Bonnies shot the ball well (48% for the game compared to 46% for URI).  The difference was the Rams scored 24 points off of turnovers compared to 11 for St. Bonaventure.

Coach Baron was visually pleased with his teams second half performance, “It’s a tremendously positive sign. The comeback.  I’m real proud of how we fought back, this is an excellent win.  We forced turnovers and attacked the bucket in second half.  Our long term goal is to win the (Atlantic 10), but we want to get better too, each and every game, and I think we got better in the second half.”

That you did Coach Baron.  That you did.