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March 7, 2009 by Chris Frechette | A10CollegeHoops

KINGSTON, RI — The stage was set for another big win for URI.  Marquis Jones had just hit two free throws to put the Rams up 71-70 with just six seconds to play.  After a UMass timeout, the Minutement inbounded the ball to their star point guard, Chris Lowe.  Lowe then dribbled the ball coast to coast for a gamewinning layup over Ram forward Kahiem Seawright to win the game, 72-71. 

Lowe got a little help on the play by teammate Matt Glass who made a crippling blind pick on URI defender, Lamonte Ulmer, sending Ulmer to the floor in a heap.  URI and it’s 7,707 fans in attendence were waiting to hear a whistle blown on the play that didn’t come.  Maybe if the play was earlier in the game, a whistle would’ve come, but not in the final seconds.  The Rams and Ram faithful just stood stunned after what had just transpired. 

It was games like these URI was just getting used to winning.  Like the Dayton game a few weeks back where the crowd rushed the floor on “Pinkout night” after Jones hit the game winning basket.  The feeling was similar at the sold out Ryan Center on senior night.  After  Jones drove the lane and was fouled by UMass center, Luke Bonner, Jones hit both free throws to put the Rams up by one.  Security advised those in the courtside seats to prepare to take cover in case the crowd rushed the floor again.  Unfortunately for URI, that scenario didn’t come.

Chris Lowe led the Minutement with 18 points and 7 assists.  Also in double figures for UMass (12-17, 7-9 A-10) were Ricky Harris with 13 points, Gary Corriea with 12, and Matt Glass with 13 points all in the first half.  It appreared as though Glass couldn’t miss as he hit open shot after open shot going 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from behind the 3 point arc.

URI Coach Jim Baron acknowledged the open shots allowed by his Rams.  “They shot the ball well,” he said.  “We let them have open shots and they hit them”. 

In the first half URI wasn’t hitting anything from 3 point range, going 0 for 12 from threes in the entire first half, including o for 5 from URI guard Jimmy Baron.  Baron did heat up in the second half scoring 16 of his game high 22 points on 4 of 7 shooting from three point range.  URI was also led by Lamonte Ulmer’s 12 points, mostly on alley oops, dunks and layups.  Ulmer shot 5 for 6 from the field and 2 for 3 from the charity stripe.  Delroy James chipped in 12 points and 12 rebounds.

URI’s first three pointer came with 14:47 left in the second half from Jimmy Baron, who was the only Ram to hit a three pointer in the whole game as the Rams went 4 for 19 (21%) for the game.  Baron’s second three at 5:57 left in the second half broke the URI single season three point record of 99 as well as the Atlantic 10 all-time record of 342.  Baron ended up with 102 threes for the season and 344 for his career.

One can only wonder what this loss means for URI (22-9, 11-5 A-10) in their quest for an NCAA tourney bid.  The A-10 would clearly like to be represented by 3 teams in the NCAA tourney, but the problem seems that their top teams aren’t closing the season out with wins.  Temple, Dayton and now URI have all lost within the last seven days.

URI players and coaches wouldn’t speculate what this loss does for their tourney hopes, but UMass coach Derek Kellogg thinks highly of the Rams.  “They’re a NCAA tournament quality team,”  he said.  But Kellogg also wouldn’t speculate if this loss burst the Rams bubble.

“You got to give credit to Lowe, he made some big plays,”  Baron said.  “He made a great play with the layup on the last play”.

When asked about senior night, Baron said, “It’s emotionally draining, we were flat, and I knew it would be a hard fought game.  You can’t take anything for granted”.

The Rams need to heed that advice and not let the NCAA committee decide their fate.  Their way into the Big Dance may now only come by winning the A-10 tournament.

February 25, 2009 by Chris Frechette | A10CollegeHoops

KINGSTON, RI – URI was pretty in pink tonight at the annual “pink out” game as they defeated Dayton 93-91 in overtime on a last second driving layup by point guard Marquis Jones as time expired.  

After Dayton shooting guard Marcus Johnson tied the game at 91-91 on a 3 pointer with Rhody guard Jimmy Baron in his face with 12 seconds left, Jones brought the ball upcourt, worked off of a pick from forward Kahiem Seawright, drove the lane and put up a layup with his back to the basket that rattled around the rim and fell through as the buzzer went off sending the 7,218 Rhode Island fans into a frenzy.

“I got a screen from Kahiem and what happened, happened,” Jones said.  “I was trying to get fouled as I went up (for the shot)”.   The overtime win puts the Rams’ record at 3-1 in overtime games this year, 12-1 at home,  and brings their overall record to 21-8, 10-4 in the A-10 which is good for third place in the conference.

Kahiem Seawright puts the last play of the game in different perspective.  “I wanted the last shot so bad.  We did a pick and roll, they switched, I rolled and I had a little guy on me and I looked at him like you better give me the ball,” he said.  “Marquis made a move and I was still looking at him saying you better give me the ball, and he made the shot.  So he didn’t have to give me the ball.”

Rhode Island was led by a balanced scoring attack  where five players reached double figures.  Jimmy Baron, Kahiem Seawright, and Keith Cothran all had 19 points, while Delroy James chipped in 18 points and Marquis Jones added 13 points.

URI was on fire in the first half, shooting 17-29 from the floor (59%), and 8-11 from three point range (73%).  The Rams finished the last minute of the first half with a 7-0 run on two free throws from Delroy James, a three pointer from Jimmy Baron, and Delroy James dunk off of a steal from Marquis Jones which gave the Rams a 52-44 halftime lead.  URI’s 52 halftime points was just 7 shy of the 59 points per game the Flyers average on defense. 

“Our defense was just awful in the first half,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said.  “With that being said, they’re (URI) the most efficient offensive team in the league.”  The Flyers tightened up their defense in the second half and allowed only half the points they allowed in the first half (26).  Led by a game high 21 points from Marcus Johnson, Dayton (23-5, 9-4 A-10) clawed back into the game to force overtime on a layup by point guard London Warren (6 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals).

“You saw a great indication on how good the (A-10) league is,” Gregory said.  “You saw a team with 21 wins and a team with 23 wins, and you saw why (they both have that many wins)”.  Gregory added, “You lose on the road in this league and you don’t have to apologize to anybody, and I don’t apologize for our effort tonight”.

“This is the greatest moment I’ve had at URI,” said Jimmy Baron.  “We didn’t win these types of games last year, or early this year.  We’re all on the same page now, setting ourselves up for success”.

Coach Baron agreed that URI’s recent success has to be attributed to its senior leadership.  “The senior leadership has been tremendous,” he said.  “I couldn’t be more proud of our kids, they played with great tenacity”.

Jimmy Baron was also named to the second team Academic All-American team by ESPN the Magazine.

The University of Rhode Island community raised over $19,000 dollars for the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation with their annual “Pink Out” game.

February 14, 2009 by Chris Frechette | A10CollegeHoops

KINGSTON, RI — Rhode Island started off their contest against St. Louis in much different fashion than their win over St. Bonaventure last Wednesday, but the outcome was still the same.  “It’s real important to grab an early lead, especially after the St. Bonaventure game,” said URI Coach Jim Baron.  That seemed to be in the minds of all URI players after they fell behind by 15 points at the half this past Wednesday against the Bonnies.

URI jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game scoring on its first four possessions highlighted by a Marquis Jones to Lamonte Ulmer alley oop.

Ulmer was huge in the Rams victory scoring a game high 18 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field, which included four layups and four dunks, two of which were alley oops.  “I feed off of the crowd, but not too much,” he said.  “I feed off of my teammates.  I’m thankful to the crowd, it’s a good feeling to do something productive and help the team.  It just feels good.”  Coach Baron was singing Ulmer’s praises, “Lamonte plays with such high energy, it’s good to have that kind of athletic ability.”

St. Louis (15-10, 6-5 A-10) battled back to cut the Rams lead to 14-13 on a Willie Reed (9 points, 6 rebounds) dunk at the 10:01 mark despite turning the ball over 7 times at that point.  The turnover situation would be huge in this game as the Billikens would go on to turn the ball over 20 times to just 8 for URI.  The Rams physical defense lead to 8 steals, but St. Louis just didn’t take very good care of the ball as they passed the ball out of bounds, twice when noone was in the area of the pass.

Coach Baron was pleased with his teams effort, “We knew it would be a hard fought game, they beat us last year and we knew how physical it would be,” he said.  “We made some adjustments with our pressure, and we turned them over 20 times and took it to the basket, and we had 18 assists.”

The Rams took much better care of the ball, led by point guards Marquis Jones and Stevie Mejia, who combined for 10 assists and just 4 turnovers.  “We battle every day in practice and pressure each other and make each other better,” Mejia said.

Rhode Island (18-8, 7-4 A-10) built up its biggest  lead at 57-42 with 5:17 left in the game as Kahiem Seawright slipped under the defense for a layup on a pass from Mejia.  Seawright posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Even down by 15 points it didn’t feel as though the Billikens were out of the game.  Rhode Island was only 8 of 18 from the free throw line at that point and if St. Louis was going to get back into the game, it may have been because of the Rams shaky foul shooting.  But down the stretch URI was perfect from the  charity stripe knocking down all 6 of its free throws, although one was called back for a lane violation on Ben Eaves.  “We got to keep working on our free throw shooting and concentrate better,” said Coach Baron.

With the win, Rhode Island improved to 11-1 at home this season and it was URI’s first win over SLU since February 14, 2007.

It was another sweet Valentine’s Day for the Rams and the 5,214 fans in attendance at the Ryan Center.

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.