Jan. 26, 2008

Box Score

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- Will Daniels scored a team-high 24 points, leading four Rams in double figures, in an 89-77 win at St. Bonaventure tonight. Daniels was 8-of-18 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from the outside and 5-of-7 from the foul line.

With the win, Rhode Island improves to 17-3 overall - tying the program's best-ever start through 20 games. URI had a 17-3 overall record in 1946-47 and started off 17-3 during both the 1980-81 and 1987-88 seasons.

"It was a great win for us on the road," head coach Jim Baron said. "I thought we came out aggressive on the defensive end and really shot the basketball well."

Offensively, the Rams began the game on fire from the perimeter, connecting on 9-of-16 from the outside (56.3%). Defensively, Rhody locked up the Bonnies, holding them to just one field goal through the first 10:43 of the first half.

Rhode Island built its largest lead of the half after Joe Mbang connected with a pass from Parfait Bitee for an alley-oop, making it 42-21 with 4:13 left in the period. But SBU would begin to heat up from the floor, outscoring the Rams 14-8 to close half. Rhody led 50-35 at the break.

"We wanted to get off to an early start, because it's something we haven't done a lot this year," Daniels said. "Our defense was the key to our offense tonight."

In the second half, the Rams continued their hot hand from the outside - connecting on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc the start the frame. Rhody was able to extend its lead back to 20 points, after a Keith Cothran jumper with 13:17 left in regulation made it 64-44.

But St. Bonaventure would chip away at the Ram lead, thanks to a 12-1 run over the next 3:30, to make it 65-56 with just under 10 minutes to go. Jimmy Baron would answer on the next possession with a deep three-pointer, but SBU again made a push, cutting it to seven points at 72-65 with 5:45 to play.

Rhody would seal the victory, connecting on 10-of-12 from the free throw line down the stretch, while coming up with some timely plays on the defensive end.

Baron added 18 points (4-9 3FG) and five assists, while Bitee added 16 points (4-7 3FG) and six assists. Mbang came off the bench to tally 11 points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes.

"As a team, we shot the ball well and distributed the ball - with 18 assists," said Jimmy Baron. "Will stepped it up and it trickled down to Joe, Parfait and the rest of the guys. It was a total team effort."

For the game, Rhode Island dished out 18 assists to just five turnovers. The Rams shot 42.6% (29-68) from the field, 48.1% from the perimeter (13-27), and 72.0% from the foul line (18-25). They were outrebounded, 40-35 by the Bonnies.

Next up for Rhode Island is a Wednesday night matchup at home against Richmond on Jan. 30. Tipoff time is at 7 p.m. The game will be televised live on Cox Sports Television, with Dave Jageler and Abu Bakr calling the action.

Tickets can be purchased at the Ryan Center box office, or by calling (401) 874-RAMS. Tickets can also be purchased online, via ticketmaster.com.