Men's basketball shoots past Division III RIC in exhibition

11/13/08 - The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team finished off its preseason with a blowout win over Rhode Island College, 109-69. The Rams ended their preseason with a perfect 2-0 record with both victories won at home."I felt like we earned the right to be here," RIC coach Bob Walsh said. "Just taking the floor was a huge win for us. I thought we really took it to them, which is great. I'm just really proud of our players, our team and our program."

"Rhode Island College is a terrific team and they're going to win a lot of games just like they have the past two years," senior Jimmy Baron said. "As one of the captains on this team, one of my jobs is to make sure we didn't take this team lightly. They're a good team and they gave us a good run in the first half."

Ultimately, Baron's 26 points, combined with the 19 points from junior guard Keith Cothran were too much to handle for RIC. Sophomore guard Marquis Jones added 11 assists as well and helped his Rhody squad put away its in-state rival.

"It's my job," Jones said when asked of his 11 assists. "Trying to imitate Parfait [Bitee] as a guard is impossible, but I'm trying to do my best job at it."

After URI won the tip off, Cothran came up short on his first shot of the day. RIC senior forward Kaseem Johnson put his team on the board first when he nailed his first shot, giving RIC a 2-0 lead.

URI came away empty after its second trip as well. RIC senior guard Tirrell Hill extended his team's lead to 5-0, after he nailed his second attempted three points of the game.

Just over a minute and a half into the game, Baron hit a wide open lay-up which cut RIC's lead to 5-2. URI then went on a 10-2 run to extend its lead to 12-7. The run was highlighted by two big dunks and a lay-up from Cothran, a two pointer in the lane from senior forward Kahiem Seawright, and a deep two pointer from Baron.

RIC shortened URI's lead to 40-30 with 1:31 remaining in the first half when RIC sophomore guard Antone Gray banked a floater off the glass for his third and fourth points of the game. URI answered with an 8-0 run to close out the half, pushing its lead to 48-30 at the break.

RIC was able to maintain its intensity with URI for the first four minutes of the second half, as the game stayed within 18 points. The second half began with a break-away dunk by RIC reverse center, senior Will Lyons. After a three-pointer by RIC sophomore forward Darius Debnam cut the Rams lead back to 18 points, Baron caught fire and led a 13-0 run for the Rams.

Baron nailed two of his six three-pointers as well as a two-point shot and then found freshman guard Stevie Mejia wide open for a big three-pointer. The run was capped off by a lay-up from junior forward Delroy James, who finished the game with 10 points.

Gray nailed two free-throws for RIC to end the run, cutting Rhody's lead to 73-44.

Jones showed great confidence in his team, which starts its regular season tomorrow against Brown University at the Ryan Center.

He did not hesitate when asked of his expectations for his team's goals through its non-conference schedule.

"Realistically, 16-0," Jones said. "With this group of guys, we fight. Last year we had some diversity and we kind of hit the wall, but this year I feel we're going to be a little bit better."

Rams Coach Jim Baron stressed the importance of the Rhody faithful and its influence on his team's performance.

"I want to thank the student body," he said. "That was really exciting. I've been going around the dining hall to try to get them to participate and to have them come out is going to be really important, and I hope they really come out Friday night.