Dec. 29, 2010

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KINGSTON, R.I. - The Rhode Island men's basketball team (9-4) posted a thrilling 67-65 victory over Boston College Wednesday night at the Ryan Center to collect its third straight victory.

Sophomore Nikola Malesevic was one of four URI players, who finished in double figures. Malesevic lead all Rhody scorers with 16 points, shooting 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

Sophomore Akeem Richmond, junior Orion Outerbridge and senior Marquis Jones finished with 15, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Outerbridge finished the game by going 5-of-6 from the field in his first game of the year.

Boston College opened up a 9-2 lead, but the Rams responded with a 14-5 run to take a 16-14 lead with 11:19 to go in the first half. Malesevic and Richmond each drilled a pair of 3-pointers during the stretch.

Rhody went on to increase its lead to 12 (26-14) thanks to a pair of jumpers from Outerbridge and a 3-pointer from Malesvic and Richmond. URI opened the game cold from 3-point range as it went 0-for-5, but rebounded by drilling its next six shots from beyond the arc.

The Eagles cut Rhody's lead to four (33-29) with 2:40 remaining in the first half, but the Rams closed out the half by going on a 6-1 run to take a 39-30 lead. Senior Delroy James hit pair of field goals over the final stretch.

Malesevic led all first half scorers with 11, connecting on 4-of-5 from the field and 3-of-4 3-pointers.

Boston College came out of the break with some hot shooting from beyond the arc as it hit on 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and in the process took a 41-39 lead with 16:27 to play. The Eagles held URI scoreless for nearly four minutes to begin the second half.

The Rams re-claimed the lead on its next offensive possession thanks to a 3-pointer by Richmond to give URI a 42-41 advantage. Neither team would go on to lead by more than five points for the next eight minutes.

Rhody opened up a seven-point lead (61-54) with 5:50 to go, but the Eagles would not go away as they stormed back to cut the Rams' lead to three with 2:06 remaining.

URI went back up by five thanks to a slam dunk by Outerbridge with just over a minute to go in the game, but the Eagles cut the Rams' lead to two following a 3-pointer by Corey Raji.

BC had one last chance with 1.4 seconds remaining, but Reggie Jackson's 3-pointer missed and URI secured the win.

URI returns to action on Jan. 3 at 9 p.m. as they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to take on Florida.