March 3, 2007
Box Score
RICHMOND, Va. -- Jimmy Baron scored 21 points and Will Daniels added 17 - including the 1,000th point of his career - as the Rams dropped a 71-69 decision at Richmond in the 2006-07 regular season finale.
Despite dropping three in a row, URI enters the 2007 Atlantic 10 Tournament next week with the #4 seed, earning a first round bye. Rhody will take on the winner of the game between #5 seeded Fordham and #12 Richmond.
The Rams started slow in the first half, trailing 11-5 through the first 6:15 of action. Rhody had connected on just one field goal - a Darrell Harris three-pointer - during the span.
Rhode Island would respond with a 20-4 run over the next six minutes, capped by a Jimmy Baron trey. URI took a 25-15 advantage with 6:46 left in the half. But Richmond closed the frame in a flurry, outscoring the Rams 18-2, to take a 33-27 lead at the break.
URI cut the deficit to just four in the opening minute of the second half - at 33-29 with 19:18 to play - but the Spiders rattled off seven unanswered points to go up 11 (40-29, 17:57). Another Baron trifecta cut it to five - 53-48 with 7:48 - but UR connected from long-distance to go back up by double digits - at 64-54, 3:58.
Rhody would mount another comeback, tallying eight unanswered, capped by a rare four-point play from Baron, making it 64-62 with 1:37 to go. Another Baron bucket made it 69-66 with 25 ticks remaining and, after Richmond missed the front end of a one-and-one, URI had a chance to tie but missed from the outside with 16 seconds to go.
For the game, Rhode Island shot 46.7% (21-45), including 6-of-17 from the perimeter (35.3%). They connected on 21-of-23 from the charity stripe (91.3%) and outrebounded Richmond, 32-20. They committed 14 turnovers and allow UR to shoot 50.0% from the floor - including 15-of-27 from three-point land.
Next up for the Rams is the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championship in Atlantic City, N.J. Thursday's quarterfinal and Friday's semifinal rounds will be aired locally on Cox Sports Television (ch. 3) as well as on CSTV nationally. Also, video streaming of the game, via the internet, will be available through a link on the gorhody.com website.
Notes: Will Daniels became the 44th Rhode Island player to pass the 1,000 point mark. He connected on the milestone points from the charity stripe with 53.2 seconds left in regulation...Jimmy Baron connected on four three-point field goals, giving him 90 for his career. He becomes just the second player in URI history to hit 90 or more treys in a single-season. Tyson Wheeler set the Rams' single-season record in 1997-98, with 91...The 91.3% shooting clip from the free throw line tonight was the highest proficiency mark of the season and the best single-game mark in Rhode Island history (min. 20 att.) - the previous high was 89.3% vs. Old Dominion (25-28) on Jan. 8, 1980...Kahiem Seawright has been hot from the floor in his last six games, connecting on 30-of-42 (71.4%) - including 19-of-25 in his last three.
