March 31, 2010 | AP Press

NEW YORK – North Carolina wrapped up last season by cutting down the nets during a championship celebration, and the goal all along has been to do it again this year.

The Tar Heels will have their chance Thursday night, under much different circumstances.

Deon Thompson had 16 points and 13 rebounds, helping North Carolina survive a frantic final few seconds and defeat Rhode Island 68-67 in overtime Thursday night in the NIT semifinals.

Will Graves added 14 points and Tyler Zeller had 13 for the Tar Heels (20-16), who will try to make bittersweet history against Dayton by becoming the first school to follow a national title with an NIT championship at Madison Square Garden.

“We enjoyed playing the last Monday night last year, and you know, we play the last Thursday night this year,” coach Roy Williams said. “Playing the last Monday night is better, there’s no question about that. But I do believe that if you’re playing — if they keep playing until there’s only one team standing — it’s very important to be that one team.”

The Tar Heels have played with a sense of desperation during the NIT, almost as if they have a chip on their shoulder, and that was borne out when they scored the final five points of regulation to force overtime.

In the extra session, North Carolina had possession with about 5 seconds left and the shot clock about to expire when Larry Drew II forced up a shot. The rebound eventually wound up in the hands of Rhode Island’s Lamonte Ulmer, who lost control of the ball as he rushed up court moments before the buzzer sounded, never coming close to getting off a shot.

Rhode Island coach Jim Baron thought he had been tripped and a foul should have been called, an opinion that North Carolina coach Roy Williams readily supported.

“We got the rebound and we were aiming to push it down the other end,” Baron said. “I thought there was some contact and he tripped.”

Ulmer finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Rhode Island (26-10), which was trying to reach the NIT championship game for the first time since the 1945-46 season. Keith Cothran scored 23 points and Delroy James finished with 13.

“Those guys played with a tremendous amount of heart,” Baron said. “That’s why I told them how proud I was, they put it all out there.”

The final seconds of overtime mirrored a frenetic end to regulation.

The game was tied 59-all when James missed two free throws with 28.6 seconds left. North Carolina tracked down the rebound and, after a timeout, Drew allowed the shot clock to run down to 6 seconds before taking a closely guarded 3-pointer that never had a chance.

“One of the players said in the locker room, ‘Sometimes it helps to win ugly,’” Williams said, “and we did win ugly today.”

Defense played a big part in it.

The Tar Heels ended up with 27 offensive rebounds and 60 total, compared to 45 for the Rams. Rhode Island also turned the ball over 18 times, including that critical miscue with the seconds ticking down in overtime.

“We didn’t execute very well and you hate to end the game like that in such an ugly way,” Drew said, “but sometimes that’s how it is in the game of basketball.”

It sure was a strange sight to see North Carolina, the bluest of the bluebloods, playing on a Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden — especially when the most important games are being played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Injuries and inexperience combined to send the Tar Heels’ season spiraling out of control, and they didn’t recover until their chances of making the NCAA tournament — and defending the title they earned by beating Michigan State last March — had disappeared entirely.

Relegated to playing in a tournament for also-rans, the Tar Heels went on the road to defeat Mississippi State and Alabama-Birmingham before knocking off a Rhode Island team that had the best RPI of any program that failed to make the NCAA tournament.

The season still ended up being a success for Rhode Island, which could have matched the school record for wins in a season had it won the NIT championship.

The Rams’ faithful certainly turned out in droves for the semifinals, easily outnumbering the Tar Heels fans clad in baby blue. They kept cheering until the final turnover in overtime, imploring a veteran team for one more night in the spotlight.

Instead, it will be North Carolina playing for yet another championship.

Even if it’s not what anybody expected.

“You know, I have a great appreciation of this tournament, I have a great appreciation of the tradition, the history of the NIT,” Williams said. “If you win this tournament, you have to feel good about it.”

March 24, 2010 | AP Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Delroy James and the Rhode Island Rams are ready to hit Manhattan.

James scored 18 points and Lamonte Ulmer added 13, including a big basket in the final seconds, to lead Rhode Island past Virginia Tech 79-72 in an NIT quarterfinal Wednesday night.

The second-seeded Rams (26-9) advanced to the NIT semifinals for the first time since 1946. They’ll play 2009 national champion North Carolina on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m just so excited for our players and everyone involved,” Rhode Island coach Jim Baron said. “You know, you’re right there on the bubble of the NCAA tournament and you beat a Big Ten team and a Western Athletic Conference and then an ACC team. Our kids showed a tremendous amount of will power to sustain and I’m really happy for them. This is a great win for us and our program.”

The Rams beat Northwestern in the first round and Nevada in the second round.

No. 1 seed Virginia Tech (25-9) led 60-48 following Malcolm Delaney’s two free throws with 14:43 left that capped an 18-8 run to start the second half. But the Rams answered with a 13-0 spurt and took a 61-60 lead with 11:05 remaining on a basket by Ulmer.

“We’ve had different guys step up on different nights and help us win,” Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said. “But we just didn’t do those things that we normally do. I don’t know if it was the stage or if it was pressure. There are so many factors that go into it. I’m just real disappointed.”

Rhode Island took the lead for good at 73-71 on a jumper by Keith Cothran with 2 minutes left. Virginia Tech had a chance to tie, but James got a piece of J.T. Thompson’s layup attempt with 46 seconds to go and grabbed the rebound.

The Rams then spread the court, and with the shot clock running down, Ulmer rebounded his own miss and laid it in with 10.6 seconds remaining.

“We were isolating and he was just real aggressive,” Baron said. “He attacked the bucket, and the funny part about it was I told the guys in practice that they were going to have to use the rim as a protector by going up and under. Sure enough, Lamonte made a great play by going up and under.”

Delaney hit one of two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cut it to 75-72. But the Rams made all four of their free throws the rest of the way to seal it.

James, who scored a career-high 34 points in Rhode Island’s second-round win over Nevada, shot 7 of 18 from the floor. He also blocked four shots and grabbed six rebounds.

Delaney had 24 points for the Hokies, who lost in the NIT quarterfinals for the third straight year. Dorenzo Hudson added 19.

The Hokies, who fell one victory short of setting the school’s single-season record, shot better from the floor than the Rams, hitting 48.1 percent (26 of 54) compared to 46.7 percent (28 of 60). But Tech made only two of its final 17 shots.

“We weren’t as poised as well as we had been down the stretch,” Greenberg said. “As well as we executed the other night against Connecticut, we didn’t down the stretch tonight.”

March 22, 2010 | AP Press

KINGSTON, R.I. – Delroy James has established a reputation for being one of the Atlantic 10’s top offensive players.

The Rhode Island star was back at it on Monday night and also turned on the defense Monday night, helping the Rams beat Nevada 85-83 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

James scored a career-high 34 points and locked up Luke Babbitt, Nevada’s leading scorer and the WAC player of the year.

“They were able to match up with Babbitt, athletically,” Nevada coach Dave Carter said. “I thought they contested his shots and made it very difficult for him to score.”

Babbitt entered as the eighth-leading scorer in the country with a 22.1 average, but finished with 14 points. He connected on only two of 14 shots — both in the second half — and scored 10 points at the free-throw line.

“He missed some easy ones that he normally would make,” Carter said. “But sometimes when you’re physical and you’re able to contest shots and make guys work for it I think that’s what they did tonight.”

As a result, the Rams (25-9) will play a third-round game Wednesday at Virginia Tech, which eliminated Connecticut 65-63.

Brandon Fields led the Wolf Pack (21-13) with 25 points, while Keith Cothran added 16 for Rhode Island and teammate Lamonte Ulmer grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“Babbitt is a very good player a top 20 pick,” James said. “I tried to make it a rough night for him. If you play hard on defense, you have to attack on offense.”

James drained one of his five 3-point shots to spark a 24-16 run and give the Rams their largest lead of the first half at 36-26.

Fields then scored seven consecutive points for Nevada to forge a 37-37 tie, but Rhode Island’s Will Martell and Stevie Mejia combined to score five straight points for a 42-37 halftime lead.

James’ layup with 4:49 left in regulation gave Rhode Island a seemingly comfortable 74-64 lead. But the Wolf Pack connected on all 10 of their free-throw attempts down the stretch and Fields drained a 3-point shot with 5.2 seconds left to pull Nevada within 84-83.

Cothran then sank one of two free-throw attempts and Nevada threw the ball away on its ensuing possession. That turnover was the Wolf Pack’s 16th, and Rhode Island capitalized by scoring 23 points off Nevada’s miscues.

Conversely, Rhode Island committed only two turnovers.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a game where my team only made two turnovers,” Rams coach Jim Baron said. “That shows we made good decisions.”

AP Photo

March 7, 2010 | Atlantic10.com

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Junior guard Kevin Anderson of Richmond has been named the 2009-10 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the Conference’s 14 head coaches.

The A-10 coaches also selected Fordham’s Chris Gaston as the Rookie of the Year, Chris Johnson of Dayton as the recipient of the Chris Daniels Award as the league’s most improved player, Temple’s Ramone Moore as Sixth Man of the Year, Damian Saunders of Duquesne as Defensive Player of the Year and Temple’s Fran Dunphy as Coach of the Year. In addition, Yves Mekongo of La Salle was tabbed Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the league’s sports information directors.

Anderson ranks fifth in the Conference in scoring (17.8 ppg.) while leading the third-seeded Spiders to program highs in both regular season (24) and A-10 (13) victories. A second-team selection a year ago, the native of Duluth, Ga., has scored 20 or more points 12 times this season and also leads UR in assists (83) and steals (56). Anderson is the program’s first student-athlete to be tabbed A-10 Player of the Year since UR entered the league in 2001-02.

A two-time Player of the Week selection this season, Anderson is joined on the All-Conference first-team by Lavoy Allen of Temple, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, Damian Saunders of Duquesne and Dayton’s Chris Wright. Crawford leads the A-10 in scoring at 19.7 ppg., while Wright garnered second-team distinction last season. For the first time in the league’s 34-year history, the first-team All-Conference consists of only sophomores and juniors.

The All-Conference second-team includes Temple’s Ryan Brooks, David Gonzalvez of Richmond, La Salle’s Rodney Green, Kwamain Mitchell of Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson. Teammates Keith Cothran and Delroy James of Rhode Island, Massachusetts’ Ricky Harris, Jason Love of Xavier and Charlotte’s Shamari Spears were named to the third team. Temple’s Juan Fernandez, Damian Hollis of George Washington and Willie Reed of Saint Louis earned honorable mention acclaim

A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection, Gaston leads all freshmen nationally in both scoring (18.0 ppg.) and rebounding (11.4), while his 504 points are the most by a freshman in team annals. The 6-7 forward leads the A-10 with three 30-point performances, pulled down at least 10 rebounds on 20 different occasions, and registered 19 double-doubles. Gaston is the third Fordham student-athlete to earn A-10 Rookie of the Year distinction, joining Bevon Robin (1998) and Bryant Dunston (2005).

Gaston is joined on the All-Rookie team by Chris Braswell of Charlotte, Cody Ellis of Saint Louis, George Washington’s Lasan Kromah, Aaric Murray of La Salle and Rhode Island’s Akeem Richmond.

The first-ever Duquesne player to garner A-10 Defensive Player of the Year distinction, Saunders enters this week’s A-10 Championship atop the league in both blocked shots (93) and steals (84) while averaging 14.9 ppg. and 11.4 rpg. The Waterbury, Conn., resident boasts 19 double-doubles and 19 performances with double-digit rebounds. Moreover, his 84 steals are tops in program history. The All-Defensive team is comprised of Saunders, Allen, Gonzalvez, Dayton’s London Warren and Garrett Williamson of Saint Joseph’s. Allen, Warren and Williamson are repeat selections.

Johnson was tabbed the recipient of the Atlantic 10’s Chris Daniels Award, presented to the Conference’s most improved player. A year ago, the 6-6 forward averaged 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and knocked down 24 field goals from beyond the arc. This season, the Columbus, Ohio, native enters the A-10 Championship ranked second on the Flyers in both scoring (11.8 ppg.) and rebounding (7.0 rpg.) while boasting 55 three-point field goals. He has grabbed 10 or more rebounds six times this season and has three 20-point performances to his credit.

Moore has provided a spark off the Temple bench in his sophomore campaign, averaging 7.6 points and dishing out 47 assists in just 17.6 minutes per game. In A-10 play, the 6-4 guard from Philadelphia, Pa., averaged 9.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting (61-for-119).

A three-time Academic All-Conference selection, Mekongo recently earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first-team distinction. The senior forward from Elizabeth, N.J., boasts a 3.81 grade point average while majoring in Integrated Science, Business & Technology. A second-team Academic All-American a year ago, Mekongo averaged 11.0 points and finished his career with 1,014 points. Joining Mekongo on the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team are Brian Conklin of Saint Louis, Duquesne’s Jason Duty, Kurt Huelsman of Dayton and Rhode Island’s Will Martell.

Now in his fourth season at Temple, Dunphy guided the Owls to their first A-10 regular season title since 2002 and the top seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship. Ranked 16th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and 20th in the Associated Press top 25, TU compiled a mark of 14-2 in Conference play, while its 26 regular-season victories equaled the Owls’ second-highest total in team history. In addition, Temple leads the league in both scoring defense (56.8 ppg.) and field goal percentage defense (38.1). The Owls have captured the last two A-10 Championships and are 81-48 (.628) under Dunphy.

AP Photo

March 17, 2009 | AP Press

LEWISTON, N.Y. — Kahiem Seawright scored 20 points in the second half — including all 10 for Rhode Island during its critical run — and the Rams beat Niagara 68-62 in an NIT first-round game on Tuesday night.

Jimmy Baron scored 20, including hitting six free throws in the final 40 seconds, for the sixth-seeded Rams (23-10), who snapped a two-game losing streak. Seawright finished with 23 points for the Rams, who are making their 13th NIT appearance and improved to 7-6 in tournament-opening games.

Rhode Island plays Penn State in the second round.

Anthony Nelson scored 14 for the poor-shooting Purple Eagles, who finished 21-of-59 from the field, and 7-of-27 in 3-point attempts. Third-seeded Niagara (26-9) had a seven-game home win streak snapped.

The Purple Eagles were also denied an opportunity to match a school record for victories, and dropped to 9-13 in making their 13th NIT appearance. Niagara was coming off a 77-70 loss to Siena in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship game last week.

Seawright, who added 10 rebounds, was the difference for a Rhode Island team that spent the past week still stewing over a 78-74 loss to Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament quarterfinals last week.

The game was decided with 38 seconds left when Niagara’s Bilal Benn was charged a technical foul for touching the ball out of bounds in attempting to deny an inbound pass. Baron hit the two free throws, putting Rhode Island up 62-57. Baron was then fouled on the Rams’ next possession, and once again hit two free throws to extend the lead to seven.

Otherwise, the Rams took control early in the second half — after they trailed by as many as nine in the first.

With Rhode Island trailing 41-34, the Rams gained momentum courtesy of Seawright, who sparked a 10-2 run by hitting a free throw after he missed the first attempt.

The senior forward was then nearly perfect, scoring 10 straight over a span of 2:42 that put the Rams ahead 43-41 with 12:20 remaining. Seawright hit a tough 16-footer from the baseline and completed a three-point play after being fouled on drive to the basket.

Niagara recovered briefly, and regained the lead — 46-45 — when Rob Garrison hit a 3-point shot.

The Rams responded and took the lead for good when Jason Francis scored on a putback after Keith Cothran missed a 3-point attempt.

Rhode Island’s 23 wins are the third most in school history, and the most since the program went 25-9 in 1997-98.

Tyrone Lewis added 13 points for Niagara, but went 4-of-17 in field goal attempts and missed 11 of 14 3-point shots.

AP Press

March 12, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Damian Saunders had 20 points to lead Duquesne to a 78-74 win over Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 tournament on Thursday.

Bill Clark finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Aaron Jackson added 17 points for the Dukes (20-11), who advanced to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 1994.

Jimmy Baron had eight 3-pointers and finished with 26 points for the Rams (22-10), while Kahiem Seawright had 13 points and Keith Cothran and Will Martell each scored 10.

The teams traded baskets for most of the game, which saw 13 ties and seven lead changes. But Duquesne finally went ahead for good on Clark’s 3-pointer with 3:30 left, which gave his team a 72-69 lead.

March 1, 2009 by Josh Taylor | A10CollegeHoops

PITTSBURGH, PA. — If there was ever any doubt about Aaron Jackson’s legitimacy as an elite college basketball player, perhaps one of his best efforts to remove it came over the weekend against Rhode Island. Jackson led all scorers with 24 points and added seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in a heroic effort that fell just short in the final seconds of a 73-71 loss.

On a Sunday afternoon where Duquesne honored their starting point guard, along with teammate Phillip Fayne for Senior Day at the A.J. Palumbo Center, Jackson helped get the Dukes started early with a back-door bounce pass to freshman Melquan Bolding for a slam dunk just 36 seconds into the game to put them on the board. From that point on, it was understood that it was going to be one of those days where the crowd was in for a good show.

After two early three-pointers by Jimmy Baron helped give Rhode Island a 10-4 lead, Jackson helped lead a string of three consecutive baskets with another baseline feed to Bolding for a reverse layup, and then a layup of his own to bring Duquesne within two. Bill Clark’s floater inside the paint with 16:16 remaining tied the game at 10.

Afterward came a battle between the two teams that saw four lead changes and five ties through the duration of the half. Keith Cothran’s dunk following a rebound off a Delroy James miss put Rhode Island ahead, 32-27, with 4:04 to go. Cothran scored 13 of his 20 points in the first half, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor.

But then Duquesne answered with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Damian Saunders three-pointer from the top of the circle to give them a 34-32 lead with 3:02 remaining. The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward was faced with the difficult task of defending 7-foot center Will Martell, but he held him to only four points, recording four blocked shots and three steals to go with his 12 points and six rebounds. Also, the Dukes held the scoring edge in the paint, 38-34, as Saunders and Clark combined for 33 points.

“Damian and Billy are playing as well as we could ask them to,” Everhart said of his two sophomore starting forwards, who have been forced to play against bigger opponents due to the Dukes’ lack of size in the front court. “Of course there are games when Damian can play better and there are days when I just want to choke Billy, but I have no problem with the effort they have given.”

After Rhode Island guard Marquis Jones’ layup helped tie the game for the Rams on their ensuing possession, Duquesne rattled off another string of three unanswered baskets to close out the half. The Dukes’ freshman led the way, as two B.J. Monteiro free throws and a pair of Bolding jumpers — the latter of which came from the right baseline with two seconds left — closed out the half with the home team ahead, 40-34.

In the second half, Duquesne worked quickly to build on their lead as Bolding hit a three pointer at about two minutes in to put the Dukes ahead, 45-38. He shot 6-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from behind the arc for 16 points, along with six rebounds.

Rhode Island quickly responded with a layup by Jones and another three-pointer from Baron – he made four of his eight attempts behind the arc – to pull the Rams within two. But Bolding struck again with his second three pointer, Saunders added another from the left corner, and Duquesne was back up by six at 15:54.

Over the next two and a half minutes, Rhode Island went on a 15-3 run, including five points by Baron, six by Kahiem Seawright, and a steal by Jones for a layup that had the Rams ahead, 60-54 with 11:33 to go. Baron, a former prep school teammate of Jackson’s, finished with 14 points, and Seawright scored 24, with 17 coming in the second half.

Duquesne began to chip away at the lead, with Jackson leading the charge. He scored 16 of the Dukes’ final 20 points, and his jumper with 2:01 remaining tied the game at 66. Two free throws by Seawright moments later put Rhode Island ahead by two.

But it was James — the younger brother of former Duquesne forward and season blocked shot record holder Shawn James — that delivered what Everhart called, “the biggest shot of the game.” His driving, left-handed hook shot off the glass with 1:11 remaining put the Rams up, 70-66, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

However, Jackson and his mates refused to concede, as he forced a steal off Baron and scored on a layup with 36 seconds to go to pull back within two. Seawright responded with a power move inside for a slam and a four-point Rams’ lead that became five when Cothran converted one of two free throw attempts.

Jackson then let the ensuing inbound pass bounce to half court before picking it up, pulling up at the top of the key and draining a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with only six seconds to go. Seawright then missed the first of a one-and-one bonus free throw attempt, rebounded by Saunders and giving Duquesne a chance to tie the game or win it with five seconds left.

“I was thinking, this is our chance to win the game,” Jackson said.

Jones, with two Rams’ team fouls to give, made a heady veteran move and fouled immediately to force Duquesne to inbound from the far end of the court with three seconds left. Then, on the ensuing inbound play, he fouled again to force another inbound with 1.5 seconds to go.

Jackson got the inbound pass and got in position to shoot the potential game-winner from the top of the circle, but his three-point attempt fell short, and so did Duquesne’s comeback hopes. 

“We tried to run a back-door screen play for Damian or [Jason] Duty,” Everhart explained, “but they guarded it pretty well and Aaron cut in between them. If we would’ve had another timeout, we probably would’ve used it and tried to do something else.”

Trailing Temple by one game in the A-10 standings, Duquesne has a meeting Wednesday against St. Louis in their home finale and a March 7 meeting with Dayton, needing to likely win both games in order to finish in fourth place and secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

“We tried to get the win today, but we didn’t, so we have to look towards the next game,” Jackson said. “We want to win these last two games and get that bye, so we’re going to get to practicing to get there.”

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 18, 2009 by Chris Maza | A10CollegeHoops

AMHERST, Mass. – The UMass student section’s “blackout” couldn’t stop Keith Cothran from shooting lights out.

As the UMass fans donned all black in an attempt to throw the Rhode Island Rams off their game, Cothran found his with a career high in points and URI came back from a 12-point deficit to beat the Minutemen, 71-59, at the Mullins Center Wednesday night.

“He’s very aggressive and he attacks the bucket,” Rams head coach Jim Baron. “He’s a kid who just plays hard. He creates problems because he’s a big guard.”

Cothran came off the bench to score 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting.

Keith Cothran – Rhode Island Rams (G)

“I just knew I wanted to go out there and be aggressive,” Cothran said. “I watched film on them and they like to scramble (on defense), so I just wanted to hit the open shots and drive to the basket.”

It was an incredibly big effort on a night when usual team leaders Kahiem Seawright and Jimmy Baron disappeared. Baron, who came in averaging 16.6 points per game, was a non-factor throughout, scoring six points on 1-of-7 shooting. His lone field goal came in the final minutes of the first half. Seawright scored just four points.

Cothran and the rest of the Rams bench came through, however, combining for 43 points.

“It was tremendous. I think our younger guys stepped up,” Jim Baron said. “We had a lot of guys stepped up and in this league, you can’t do it with one or two guys. You need to have a number of guys being able to step up and our guys really showed it.”

UMass jumped out to a lead right off the bat with a pair of three points to start the game and didn’t give up the lead for the rest of the half. The Minutemen extended the lead to 12, the largest of the game, with a floater in the lane by Ricky Harris and a put back by Tyrell Lynch, putting the score at 31-19.

But the Rams charged back into it with a 9-0 run to end the half and close within three points at 31-28 going into the half.

Rhode Island finally took its first lead in the second half on Cothran’s three-pointer, but UMass posted an 8-0 run to jump back out front, 47-41.

The Rams finally took the lead for good with 2:28 remaining when Seawright hit two free throws to give Rhode Island a 59-57 lead. Those free throws sparked a 12-2 run to end the game.

“It’s getting a little redundant. We play really great basketball for 36 minutes and then almost figure out a way yourself to lose,” UMass head coach Derek Kellogg said.

After being held to 29 percent shooting in the first half, Rhode Island rebounded and shot at a 60 percent clip to outscore UMass, 43-28, in the second half. Meanwhile, UMass shot consistently poorly, hitting just 37 percent of its attempts.

 The Minutemen got 15 points apiece from Harris and Chris Lowe. Lowe also dished five assists, leaving him one short of becoming UMass’ career leader. Tony Gaffney added 11 points and blocked six shots, but no one took charge for the Minutemen down the stretch.

“Until someone steps up and says, ‘I’m going to take this game over, I’m going to be tough, I’m not letting us lose,’ we’re going to continue to throw games away at the end and our season will end before we know it,” said Gaffney.

It was UMass’ second straight loss and sixth in its last eight games. At 9-15 and 4-7 in the Atlantic 10, the Minutemen drop into a tie with St. Bonaventure with one of the conference’s worst records.

The win was a huge boost for the Rams, who leapfrogged St. Joseph’ to take over 4th place in the standings with an 8-4 conference mark. They are 19-8 overall on the season.

February 8, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Lavoy Allen scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in leading Temple to a 68-62 victory over Rhode Island on Sunday.

Dionte Christmas added 19 points and Craig Williams 12 for Temple (13-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10), which hit on 26 of 55 shots.

Keith Cothran had 16 points for Rhode Island (16-8, 5-4), while Jimmy Baron added 13.

The Owls led 48-30 five minutes into the second half, but Cothran helped rally the Rams to within 64-57 with 3:17 left to play. Rhode Island closed to 66-60 on a 3-point shot by Lamonte Ulmer with 1:36 to go, but Christmas hit two free throws at 0:19 to end the threat.

Baron, hampered by a sore back, played only 26 minutes, but connected on 5 of 6 shots in the game.