Nov. 10, 2006
Box Score
KINGSTON, R.I. -- Paced by a career night from Kahiem Seawright, Rhode Island won its 2006-07 regular season opener against Stonehill, 86-62, tonight at the Ryan Center.
The sophomore tallied his first collegiate double-double, tallying 20 points and 10 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Seawright was 8-for-10 from the floor, and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, leading four Rams in double figures. Will Daniels scored 18 points, while Joe Mbang added 17 and Darrell Harris 10 points.
"Kahiem did a great job tonight. He and Will Daniels really helped us break it open in the second half." said head coach Jim Baron, who improves his record to 5-1 in season opening games at the helm of the Rams. "And Darrell had one of his best games ever here. I told him 'we're going with you,' and he's responded."
"He works so hard, I've never had a player work himself into dehydration like he did the other night." Baron added. "I was particularly happy to see him have a good game."
Harris was 4-for-6 from the floor, while also grabbing six rebounds in 14 minutes.
Rhody and Stonehill played a close first half. After a Joe Mbang layup put URI up by seven points early on - 10-3 with 14:25 left in the half - the Skychiefs went on a 9-3 run over the next 2:25 to tie the ballgame at 12-12. Rhody went back up by six points, after a Daniels trifecta made it 21-15 with 7:40 left.
But again, the Skychiefs tied it up (21-21), on back-to-back threes by Cranston's Soap Toun. The Rams pulled away down the stretch in the first half, outscoring Stonehill 11-4 and taking a 32-25 advantage into the break.
"In the first half, we knew we weren't playing well." Seawright said. "We gave up a lot of points to them in transition and with open threes, so at halftime, we knew we had to handle our business."
"We weren't talking on defense, we weren't rebounding." Harris added. "We needed to to do a better job of that in order to pick it up."
The Rams did just that. After Stonehill cut it to four points (36-32) on another Toun three early in the second half, Rhody would respond with a 13-5 run. The run was capped by three consecutive treys - two by Daniels and another by Parfait Bitee - and two Seawright layups to take a 51-37 lead with 14:36 to play.
Rhode Island would pull away with about 11 minutes to play, extending its lead to as many as 30, after a Jonathan Cruz layup made it 84-54 with 2:24 remaining.
"We did a good job inside on the glass, especially on the offensive end." Baron stated. "That was really important when we weren't knocking down our shots."
The Rams shot just 38.7% in the first half, but improved greatly in the second half, connecting on close to 60% from the floor.
"A lot of our offense this year comes from when we run." Harris said. "If we rebound and we run, our offense will be there. Especially with Jon Lucky at the point - he's a good setup point guard. it's great to be out there running."
Lucky had a game-high six assists to just one turnover in 28 minutes of action in his first regular season game for the Rams since March, 2005.
"As we keep building and keep getting better, we gain confidence and some sense of chemistry out there." Baron said. "That's why we play these early games."
Rhody returns to action on Monday night, when they host Houston - and former URI head coach Tom Penders - at 7 p.m. at the Ryan Center.
Notes: Sophomore Jimmy Baron sat out of tonight's contest with a left knee strain. He will be reevaluated this weekend...The 10 points by Darrell Harris were a career-high...Jon Lucky's six assists was one off his career-best of seven, set against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 5, 2005...Six of Joe Mbang's seven rebounds were on the offensive end...After shooting just 1-for-10 from three-point land in the first half, Rhody connected on its first three of the second half...Cranston's Soap Toun finished with a game-high 26 points, including eight three-pointers.
