URI men's basketball wraps up season at National Invitational Tournament

03/24/09 -The University of Rhode Island men's basketball team ended their season Thursday night falling at Pennsylvania State University 83-72, in the second round of the 2009 National Invitational Tournament.Guard Jimmy Baron and forward Kahiem Seawright combined to score 41 points in their final game in a Rhody uniform. Baron scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting including six three-pointers. He finished his career with 361 three-pointers the most in URI and Atlantic 10 history. Seawright scored 17 points and grabbed four rebounds.

The Rams shot 43.5 percent for the game and out scored Penn State inside the paint 34-30. Both teams turned the ball over 11 times.

The Rams dug themselves a deep hole early as Penn State opened a 20-5 lead early in the first half. Rhody managed to get back in the game on 12-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the lead to 20-17 with 8:37 remaining in the first half. But, the Nittany Lions came back with a 10-2 run and opened up a 13-point lead heading into the half holding a 42-29 advantage.

In the second half the Rams battled back from behind once again as Seawright converted a three point play to cut the lead to 46-41 just over three minutes into the half. Penn State had an answer once again as they converted the next eight points and opened a 59-43 lead on a 13-2 run.

The Rams could only get as close as six points the rest of the game as Penn State went on to get the victory 83-72 ending the season for the Rams. Rhody never led throughout the entire game.

In the opening round of the NIT the Rams got their first victory since the 2003-2004 season when they defeated Boston University. Rhody came from behind on the road to defeat Niagara University 68-62 on Tuesday night.

Coming off a difficult loss to Duquesne University in the A 10 tournament, the Rams snapped their two game losing streak as seniors Baron, Seawright and Jason Francis combined for a total of 51 points.

Seawright led all scores with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting and converting 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Baron scored 20, which marked the 30th time this season he score in double figures. Francis scored a career high eight points off the bench.

Rhody shot 50 percent snapping the Purple Eagles seven game home winning streak.

Niagara opened up a nine-point lead late in the first half, but Rhody was able to rally and cut the lead to four heading into halftime trailing 32-28.

In the second half Niagara opened up a seven-point advantage leading 41-34. Seawright brought the Rams back scoring nine consecutive points giving Rhody a 43-41 lead.

The Purple Eagles took a 46-45 lead with 8:57 remaining, but that was their last lead of the game. Francis converted a lay-up to put Rhody in front 47-46. The Rams were able to hold on and secure the victory as Baron converted six free throws in the final 40 seconds.

This was the 13th appearance in the NIT for the Rams, where they are 7-6 in the opening round. The Rams end their season with an overall record of 23-11. The 23 wins is the fourth most in URI history.
This was the second year in a row the Rams made it to the post season.

"Our players worked real hard," head coach James Baron said. "We were picked ninth and finished coming in second in the league our guys really played hard down the stretch winning 10 out of 11 games.